At the Beginning with You
by novela
Summary: Lucy Turner has experienced much in her young life. She and her brother, Will, are about to embark on an adventure that will alter both of their lives forever. On the Black Pearl she will find adventure, wisdom, and love.
1. Prologue

At the Beginning with You

Prologue

"What happened here?!" Lucy Turner heard the frantic voice, and the sound of what seemed like the running of foot steps.

"It's most likely the powder magazine. Merchant vessels run heavily armed." This voice sounded much less concerned than the first voice that she heard. In fact, it sounded pompous, and proud not to be befuddled by the appearance of two small children, who were previously floating in the sea on a thin wooden tile from a ship.

"A lot of good it did them. Everyone's thinking it. I'm just saying it. Pirates." This voice was gruff, quick, and accusing.

Lucy moaned and rolled over. The voices grew softer after that last one. They sounded like the buzzing of a million bees. Oh, how she wished they would stop. Her head was sore. She was sleepy. She didn't want to know why she heard them. She didn't want to know why she was lying down. She didn't want to know why she was cold and wet. She didn't want to know where her brother was. She didn't even want to know why a coarse hand was touching her plump bare arm, or why she could smell the foul breathing so close to her face. All she wanted now was to sleep. _Ow!_ Suddenly, she felt a blunt pressure against her left temple. Oh no, the voices were beginning again.

"Is she awake, Mr. Gibbs?" She heard the first frantic voice ask.

"I don't think so, sir. She's got a nasty cut on her head." The gruff voice softened. It was very close to her ear. "Poor little mite, can't be more than four...maybe five years old."

"And the boy?" the pompous voice asked, his tone still not expressing concern.

"I'd say about ten."

"I mean his condition, Mr. Gibbs." A long sigh came from the pompous voice.

The coarse hands then left Lucy. She could no longer smell the foul breath, or feel the pain on her temple. It was strange, but she missed it. She began to long for her mother, her gentle touch, her soothing voice.

The gruff voice came back, this time from almost right next to her. "I don't see no blood, but he don't look to good either. I'm telling you Lieutenant this has the look of"

"_That's Enough, Mr. Gibbs_! You will take the little girl below immediately, that's an order!" The pompous voice was impatient, and suddenly became louder as though it were shouting orders to more than one man. "Rouse the Captain! Heave to and take in sail! Launch the boats!"

Lucy felt the coarse hands again, only this time, they were lifting her small body up into a cradling position. Lucy felt her eyes open. Her senses, deafened by her injury, began to kick back in. She felt afraid. Where was she? Where were they taking her? Where was Will? She could see the scruffy, black, overgrown sideburns of the man carrying her. She could see men running this way and that. She could see the murky water from where she had been rescued. She turned her head. She saw a pretty girl in and ocean blue dress a few years older than she, a man in a feathered hat, and the very still body of a boy with raven black hair, his skin was so pale. _Will!_ Was he dead like her mother?

"_**Will!!!"**_ The little golden haired child in a wet petticoat screamed in Mr. Gibbs's arms. She screamed at the unconscious body of her brother, afraid of what this unpredictable life might bring her. _**"Will, help me!!!"**_


	2. Chapter 1 Ten Years Later

Chapter 1

Ten Years Later

A fourteen year old maidservant was perched on the windowsill, staring out into the sunlit street. It was summer, therefore, the sun rose earlier in the morning. The maidservant satisfied herself with this logic as she squinted out the window, annoyed with the blinding light of the sun.

The maidservant's thick golden locks were done up in a tight bun. Her uniform consisted of a plain rose colored dress, a stained apron, and an annoyingly small white cap that refused to sit properly on her rather large head. The maidservant was tall and thin. Her hands were long and rough from years of work. Her face was young-looking, her skin rosy. Her eyes were a hazel color, but they appeared to be brown at times, because of the dark shadows that they seemed to cast right below her eyelids.

The maidservant had been employed for the Swann family for seven years. She had been an orphan since the age of four Her brother was a blacksmith, and had, since the age of ten, apprenticed under a kindly old man named Mr. Brown. Mr. Brown had allowed both children to live with he and his wife when they first came to the city. The arrangement lasted until the maidservant was about seven years old. Governor Swann thought it best that she begin to earn a living of her own, and was more than happy to employ her as a maidservant for his lovely daughter, Elizabeth. Governor Swann was very kind to her, allowing her to see her brother about once a week. Miss Elizabeth was very kind as well, and was more friend than mistress to her. It was Miss Elizabeth who taught her to read and write. Together they read stories about kings and queens, fairies, dragons, and Miss Elizabeth's favorites; stories about _pirates_. But Miss Elizabeth was growing up, and getting to old for fairy tales. She had to go to social gatherings, attend balls, spend time with suitors, and think of suitable marriages. Miss Elizabeth often confided to the maidservant how much she loathed these ladylike activities, but secretly the maidservant envied her. Miss Elizabeth had a chance for change. The whole world seemed to be open to her. For the maidservant, change was over. No one would ask a maid to a ball. No one would ever dream of courting a maid. The maidservant was in an unsatisfied lull. She knew that she would be a maid in this house, forever.

"Lucy?!"

The maidservant jumped. The voice of Governor Swann had awakened her from her sleepy thoughts. Lucy Turner rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, leapt off of the windowsill, and onto the dinning room floor. She gathered up her skirts, ran into the parlor, and up the grand staircase. "Coming, sir!"

"Lucy!"

"Almost there, sir!" She could hear his voice from the southern hallway of the upstairs. She feared that she was a little late getting Miss Elizabeth dressed this morning. She turned and sprinted for it, praying he wouldn't be angry with her.

"Lucy!" Lucy could see Governor Swann, he was facing in the opposite direction, calling her name. _He must have thought I was upstairs_. Lucy thought to herself, as she sprinted faster. Suddenly, her oversized shoe caught the corner of the rug. She fell headlong into Governor Swann's back.

Together they crashed onto the floor. "Oh sir, I'm sorry." Lucy rolled off of Governor Swann's back and onto the floor. She retrieved his wig that had fallen off, and handed it to him. "I'm a...I'm here, sir."

"Yes, I can see that, Lucy, and feel it too." Governor Swann rose slowly to his feet. His frustrated expression was mixed with a bit of amusement, as he set the wig back on his tiny bald head. "I suppose you Turners never change."

Lucy offered an apologetic smile, as she stuffed her small cap back onto her abnormally sized head, and rose to her feet. She knew what Governor Swann meant. Her brother, too, had an aptitude for clumsiness. "I'm sorry, sir." she said again. "Oh..." Lucy bent down and picked up a beautiful cream colored dress that lay on the floor, a lovely floral design was stitched on it. A corset laid directly under it. Lucy lifted that with great care, how Miss Swann hated corsets, but they were very fashionable. "Miss Elizabeth will look radiant today, sir." Lucy whispered, admiring the fine embroidery of the dress.

"I'm glad you think so...now if you could...?" Governor Swann held out his hands for the dress and corset.

"Oh...sorry." Lucy looked up from her admiring trance. With some reluctance she handed the dress back to him.

"Yes, that's quite alright." Governor Swann shook his head and turned to the oak door of Miss Elizabeth's room. He knocked loudly. A shuffling could be heard from inside the room. "Elizabeth? Are you alright? Are you decent?"

"Yes, yes!" Miss Elizabeth's voice was sweet sounding as always, yet for some reason or another, flushed.

Governor Swann opened the door immediately. Lucy followed in after him, smiling sheepishly at Elizabeth before going to draw the curtains. "Still abed at this hour?" Governor Swann sent an accusing glance at Lucy. It was her job to wake his daughter in the mornings. Lucy reddened and stood back as he laid the dress on the large bed for Miss Elizabeth.

"Oh, it's beautiful!" Miss Elizabeth exclaimed. She smiled appreciatively at Lucy and then her father. She stood and went behind her cover where she dressed. Lucy followed with the corset. After she was in her petticoat, Lucy set the coset as gingerly as she could around her waist. Miss Elizabeth turned and sent her a disdainful look. Lucy gave her a reassuring smile, and shrugged her thin shoulders. Miss Elizabeth sighed, rolled her beautiful brown eyes, and faced forward. "May I inquire as to the occasion?" she redirected her attention to her father.

"Does a father need an occasion to dote upon his daughter?" Lucy heard Governor Swann fumble around the room. His tone suggested a hint of nervousness. "Actually, I, um...I had hoped you might wear it for the ceremony today."

"The ceremony?" Miss Elizabeth asked with as much air as she could muster, as Lucy yanked on the corset strings. Lucy wondered how Miss Elizabeth seemed to have forgotten the ceremony. It was all that was discussed in the Swann house for nearly a week.

"...Captain Norrington's promotion ceremony."

"I knew it!" Elizabeth strained her voice accusingly.

"A fine gentleman, don't you think? He fancies you, you know." Governor Swann informed Miss Elizabeth. She was silent at hearing this news, her face was unreadable. Lucy continued to pull at the strings. " Elizabeth? How's it coming, Lucy?"

"It difficult to say." Miss Elizabeth answered for Lucy. Lucy suppressed a relieved giggle. Miss Elizabeth certainly had not lost her sense of humor.

"I'm told it's the latest fashion in London."

"Well, women in London must have learned not to breathe."

"My Lord?" The door cracked open. Lucy heard the voice of Byron, the Swann's butler. "You have a visitor."

"Ah yes, very good, Byron." Governor Swann turned to face his servant, and began for the door himself. "Hurry along Elizabeth, we will be leaving for the ceremony soon." With that, Governor Swann bounded out the door, leaving Miss Elizabeth and Lucy to the troublesome petticoat.

Lucy couldn't help but feel a bit elated. She knew that the visitor was Will. He was delivering a sword to Governor Swann, meant to be a gift for the soon to be Commodore Norrington. Governor Swann agreed that since he and Miss Elizabeth were going out for the day, Lucy could spend the rest of the day with Will at the Smithy.

Miss Elizabeth let out a soft moan. "Do you nearly have it, Lucy?"

Lucy gave the corset one final tug, and then tied it in place. "I've got it, how does that feel, Miss Elizabeth?" Lucy went back to the bed for the dress and helped Miss Elizabeth's shaking body into it.

"You can't imagine how much it hurts." Miss Elizabeth adjusted the dress around her. She then turned, and faced Lucy. She did look stunning. She must have styled light chestnut hair last night. Flawless ringlets framed her striking face, but from seeing her mistress so many times in the morning Lucy could see that she did look a bit pale.

"I'll run and tell your father that you won't wear it." Lucy immediately volunteered.

"No Lucy, dear. It wouldn't be proper." Miss Elizabeth took a few gasping breaths before continuing. Her were formed in a tiny circle, so that she resembled a fish. "Your brother's down there, after all. No, I'll just have to endure this particular form of torture." She took Lucy's wrist, and held it earnestly, her face in a dramatic stare, as though she were about to do something extremely heroic. "Hand me my bonnet, will you?"

Lucy chuckled as she handed the silky bonnet to her mistress, but at the same time she wondered why Miss Elizabeth would rather suffer the corset than embarrass herself in front of Will. Lucy had noticed that Elizabeth seemed to take an interest in Will. There was no question in Lucy's mind that Will fancied her. She saw the was he looked at her. The way he enunciated every last syllable of her name when they spoke about her. Lucy never questioned him about it. Why speak of what would never be?

Miss Elizabeth took Lucy's hand and squeezed it. "At least one of us shall have a pleasant afternoon. Come along, Pet." The plain Lucy and her beloved, beautiful mistress left the room in great haste. When they got to the grand staircase, Lucy hung back and allowed her mistress to walk down alone. She could wait to embrace her brother. She watched with admiration as the beautiful princess gracefully glided down the marble stairs.

"Oh Elizabeth, you look absolutely stunning." Governor Swann beamed with pride at the sight of his daughter, carrying of the style of London with grace and dignity.

Miss Elizabeth ignored her father's compliment, and headed straight for Will. "Will! It's so good to see you. I had a dream about you last night."

Lucy's brother stood there looking entirely entranced. Yet, he held back like a dog tied to a short rope. "A...About me?" he stuttered.

"About the day we met, do you remember?" Miss Elizabeth inquired, her dark eyes gleaming with hope.

"How could I forget, Miss Swann."

"Honestly Will, you're just like your sister in that regard. How many times must I ask you to call me Elizabeth?" A tender and inviting smile traced across Miss Elizabeth's full lips. She wanted Will to warm up to her. She wanted Will to be improper and treat her as his friend and confident.

Will shook his dark brown head. His eyes were cold. His expression blank. "At least once more, Miss Swann, as always."

"There. See? At least the boy has a sense of propriety. Now, we really must be going. Mr. Turner, I'm sure your sister will be down directly." A slightly aggravated Governor Swann handed Elizabeth her parasol. Byron opened the large door for the father and daughter. Overwhelming light from the bright sun seeped into the house. Lucy could see a blush form on Will's cheeks.

Miss Elizabeth stalked to the opened door after her father. All of her warmth and affection disappeared as she fixed Will with the same cold stone expression that he had previously given her. "Good day, Mr. Turner." Haughtily she marched outside, her dress sweeping behind her.

"Good day..." Will stared out into the daylight. The sound of carriage wheels and the hurried stomping of horse hoofs echoed into the large house. Lucy, who meant to run into her brother's arms as soon as the Swanns left, tip-toed slowly down the stairs, detecting her brother's sadness. He did not notice her presence. He continued to stare out into the daylight. She was close to him, now. If she had not been, she would not have been able to hear him whisper, almost inaudibly. "...Elizabeth."


	3. Chapter 2 a Pirate, a Humiliation, a Pie

Chapter 2

A pie, a humiliation, and a pirate

"...Will?"

Will's muscular shoulders raised in surprise at the sound of his sister's voice. Lucy watched as he flung around. His expression was one of bewilderment, as if he had completely forgotten that she was to spend the rest of the day with him. All that the siblings did for a moment, was stare in awe of each other. After a while, Will's shocked expression transferred, in almost a second, to a toothy smile full of cheerfulness and excitement. Lucy could tell that it was slightly forced.

"Hello Lu'!" Will embraced her in a hard hug and a quick kiss on her pale forehead. "How are you?" his voice was rushed and hurried. His toothy smile remained on his rugged, yet handsome face. His dark hazel eyes, the only facial trait that he and his sister shared, jumped around in awkward embarrassment.

"I...I'm getting on as usual." Lucy catch his gaze with her own hazel stare. Abruptly, she shifted the subject to his welfare. "Are you alright, Will?" she asked, her soft tone full of concern.

Will stopped his eye fidgeting and met her gaze. His whole face softened. He wrapped a long arm around her neck. "You worry far too much about me." he gently told her. "I'm more anxious about you." His voice turned jovial and brotherly. Lucy felt his huge rough hand upon her head. He snatched the menacing white cap off of her humongous head, and dangled it in front of her face. "I do believe your skull has gotten even bigger since the last time I saw you." His broad white smile returned to him, as he laughed openly. The Elizabeth incident appeared to be forgotten.

Lucy chuckled and shook her head, golden curls loosened from her tight bun and displayed themselves all around her face. She snatched the cap out of Will's hand, and stuffed it in her apron pocket. "Don't I look absolutely monstrous?" she asked jokingly.

"I'm only teasing you, Lu'." Will ruffled Lucy's wavy hair, causing even more curls to burst from her up-do. "Your head is only a bit bigger than everyone else's. You only notice it when you wear things on your head that are far too small for you. Anyhow, come on. I'm taking you out for pie." Will put his arm around her thin shoulders and led her out the door, using his foot to shut the door behind them.

"_Pie?"_

"Yeah, you do have your wages for this week with you, don't you."

"Yes, but it's not enough for..."

"Well, Mr. Brown agreed that I should be allowed a tenth of our profit down at the Smithy... since I am the one doing most of the work these days." Will added begrudgingly as they walked together along the cobblestone street, dust, stirred up from passing carriages, kicked up in their faces. Mr. Brown was a decent old man, but since Mrs. Brown had died about a year ago he had become more dependent on his bottle of jinn. It was common knowledge around Port Royal that he would spend his afternoons asleep with a bottle of jinn in his hand. Will never complained about it. Will never complained about much of anything. He was a good brother, the best brother that Lucy could ever dream of asking for. Their father, the first William Turner, had been absent since before Lucy was born, with the exception of the occasional gifts he sent to Will. Their mother told them that their father was a merchant, and always traveling. Lucy supposed that he was dead by now. They hadn't heard from him since she was about four years old, since they went looking for him after their mother died. Will often acted as more of a replacement father to Lucy than a brother only six years older than she. At times Lucy pitied him because of it. Unlike a normal brother-sister relationship, Will did not regard Lucy as a confidant. He always did his best to make sure she was happy, but insisted that she never worry about his happiness. If they ever spoke about Miss Elizabeth, it would only be about how she and Lucy got along. They never spoke about the feelings for Miss Elizabeth, which Lucy knew he had. Will always appeared to be content. Lucy wondered if his happiness was truly genuine. She wondered if he felt the unsatisfied lull that she did. Did he, too, desire change?

"Here we are." Will pointed out Mrs. Mellor's pastry shop.

Lucy had passed by it so many times, but had never actually gone inside. Her stomach did an abrupt flip-flop. Her eyes wandered down to her plain uniform. Maidservants didn't dine in restaurants with the rest of society. "A..are you sure Will, I would be agreeable to going straight to the Smithy."

Will scoffed and shook his head. "We barely ever have sweets. We've earned this. Our money is just as good here, as anyone else's in Port Royal." Lucy could understand by his voice that he was reassuring himself just as much as he was her. With some hesitation Will swung open the door to the pastry shop.

With a cheerful ding, the door slammed behind them. Their were no customers sitting at the wooden tables. Lucy was a bit relieved to remember that most of the high society would be at the ceremony. The tiny, silver haired Mrs. Mellor squinted above her half-moon glasses at the two customers that had just entered. "Wot' kin' I git' yer'?" she squeaked.

Lucy ogled at the various selections of pies cooling on the shelves behind Mrs. Mellor. Finally, after much deliberation, she and Will decided on a tasty looking apple pie. They paid for it with two of their shillings, and found two high stools to sit upon as they indulged into the delicious treat with their forks.

After a few minutes of silent chewing, Lucy opened her mouth. "It's quite good, but do you remember the pies that Mother used to bake?"

Will looked up, his cheeks moving at immense speed to chew the large mouthful he had just taken. His eyes danced with amusement. "You remember her pies?"

Lucy nodded and looked down at her long, thin hands. "I remember silly things like that. I remember songs that she sang. I remember her laugh...anyway, her pies and cakes were magnificent."

"Do you remember anything after that?" Will asked almost too casually, taking another bite.

Lucy knew what he meant. By 'after that' he meant after the good times ended, when her mother became sick with the fever, when she died, when Will decided that they would get on a boat and look for their father, when a pirate ship attacked the boat, when she and Will were rescued by Governor Swann. "...No, I don't think I remember any of that. I was so young, Will." It didn't make sense, how could she recall such trivial things, and not remember what should have been traumatic. Well, there was one terrible thing that she remembered, though she never mentioned it to anyone. Perhaps it didn't really happen. Perhaps it was only something she dreamt about. In her memory lived the lifeless body of a young Will. She could still hear the cries emitting through her own mouth. _Will!!! Will help me!!! _

Lucy frantically shook the thought out of her head. The memory only disturbed her. Why think about it? "Do you remember anything, Will?"

Will met her dark eyes. She was surprised to see that he suddenly looked genuinely melancholy. "You're very lucky, you know. I think I remember everything."

Lucy slid her hand across the table and covered his with her own. "Oh Will..."

A loud ding was suddenly heard, followed by an earth shaking slam of the shop door. Lucy twisted her neck to see a whole flock of men and women dressed in fine clothing saunter up to the counter, order several fine pastries, and find seats a few places away from Will and Lucy. They appeared to take no notice of them. They had eyes only for each other. The men's voices boomed like trumpets. The women clucked to one another like agitated chickens. Lucy gave Will's hand a gentle pat before sliding it back to her fork. She sat up straighter and took smaller bites, hoping that she would go unnoticed as the simple maidservant that she was.

Will did not appear to be phased, although he did take several hurried bites in a row and kept his eyes focused on the apple pie. He had to feel it. He had to feel how utterly out of place they were. After several minutes of silence from Will and Lucy, amidst the happy chatter of the other party. Will finally dropped his fork. In spite of Will's ravenous appetite, the pie was only about halfway finished. "We're never going to be able to eat all of this, Lu..."

Will didn't have a chance to finish. The door to the shop abruptly swung open. A blonde flushed looking officer stumbled inside. "Jos'! Joshua!"

"Cale, what is this about?" Perhaps the most jovial man in the happy group stood and went over to the officer, who looked like he could be his brother. "I told you we wouldn't be staying for the reception after the ceremony. I told you we decided to go out." The young man added defensively.

"Yes, I know, Jos'." sighed the officer, who put his hand on the young man's shoulder. "I've come to tell you that you'd all best go home, immediately." he looked around the whole room and rested his eyes on Mrs. Mellor, who stood behind the counter. Her wrinkled face looked quite appalled by the sudden outburst. "Mrs. Mellor, I suggest you lock up shop for the day." he put his hands on his hip and turned back to the customers, this time including Will and Lucy in his authoritive glare. "A very dangerous pirate is on the lose."

"You're mad!"

"A pirate in Port Royal?!"

"Oh my word!"

Loud exclamations fired like canon balls at the officer. Lucy simply stared at him, her mouth open in shock. Pirates were fantasies to her, who only came to life in adventure stories.

"I assure you!" The officer shouted at the top of his lungs. "We are all in danger until he is apprehended! Not ten minutes ago, did he attack the governor's daughter!"

_Miss Elizabeth!_ Lucy's mind raced with terrible simulations of what might have happened to her beloved friend. What could this terrible pirate have done to her" Was she badly hurt, traumatized for life? Before she could formulate any sort of response, she saw Will, out of the corner of her eye, leap to his feet.

Will bounded over to the officer, his eyes blazing. "Miss Swann?! What happened?! Where is she?!"

"I...I believe she was taken home, Mr. Turner." the officer clarified, quite taken aback by the usually mild-mannered blacksmith's odd behavior. "Which is what I suggest you all do." he said, looking around once more. "Come on, Jos'. I'll escort you, and your friends home."

As everyone rushed out of the shop, the door dinging behind each one of them, Lucy rose to her feet, ran over to Will, and took hold of her elbow. "Oh Will, I must go to her at once. She might be badly hurt or frightened."

"I'll go with you." Will said, a bit of fierceness still left in his voice.

"No, you go and lock up the Smithy. Mr. Brown might not know about the pirate."

Will glowered at her for a moment, as though she, herself, was the pirate who had attacked Miss Elizabeth. Then, he let out a long sigh, and a quick nod. "All right, but be very careful going back, Lucy. Goodness knows where that pirate could be."

Lucy leaned in and hugged him. "I will, you be careful too." she whispered.

"This afternoon wasn't exactly what you were expecting, was it Sis'?" he snickered as he pulled away from her.

"No, but the pie was good."

With that Lucy darted out of the pie shop, the now obnoxious-sounding bell dinging behind her. All that she could think about was Miss Elizabeth. _I...I believe she was taken home. _She recalled the frazzled officer saying. What did "taken home" mean exactly. Had this pirate wounded her so that she could not walk? Lucy sprinted down the empty streets, stumbling a few times, her heart beating like a jack-rabbit. She thought of the pirate. What did he look like? Why was he here? Why did he attack Miss Elizabeth? Would she meet him on her way back to the Swann house?

Lucy did not have long to contemplate these horrors. Before she knew it, the Swann house stood before her. Lucy darted across the lawn, and up the porch steps, bounding up them two at a time. She attempted at pushing the large doors open, but they were locked.

"Byron!" She wailed, pounding her fists against the doors. "Byron, open the..."

The was suddenly thrown open. Lucy toppled inside. She discovered that it was not Byron, the old butler, who had let her in, but Miss Elizabeth herself. "Lucy?" Miss Elizabeth stood before her, her eyebrow raised in surprise. Her hair was damp. She had Governor Swann's jacket wrapped around her thin slip, but she was unharmed.

Lucy couldn't help it. She threw her arms around her, not minding the smell of fish that came from her mistress's body. "Oh Miss Elizabeth, I'm so very glad you aren't hurt. I dashed here as soon as..."

"What have we here?"

"Oh, how adorable it's Lizzie's maid. My maid's never hugged me before, Elizabeth."

Lucy whirled around. She saw two young ladies gracefully striding out of the parlor, and towards them. The two ladies were Miss Briony Radcliffe and Miss Josephine Blanche. They were both exceptionally beautiful young women, who often made uninvited at Miss Elizabeth's side. Lucy knew that Miss Elizabeth thought them both extremely exasperating, and was only civil to them, because her father was good friends with both of their wealthy parents. Lucy had never directly interacted with these two young ladies, and made a clumsy effort at a curtsey. They both smiled snidely as they made their way towards her. There eyes examined her like lions looking over their prey before devouring it. Lucy's heart raced almost as quickly as it had on the run over. She heard Miss Briony let out a giggle.

"Homely little thing, isn't she, Lizzie?" Miss Josephine remarked as Miss Elizabeth went to shut the door.

"Wouldn't exactly call her little. Why, she's as tall and gangly as the beanstalk in that fairy story." Miss Briony countered with another giggle

"There's not much shape to her, if you know what I mean, Briony. I don't suppose she's even reached her teen years." Miss Josephine's jade eyes ran along Lucy's long, unshapely body. "How old are you darling?" she asked, her tone suddenly as sweet as sugar.

Lucy stared at the marble floor, pretending to be fascinated by the amount of dirt that she tracked in. "Fourteen, Miss Josephine." she whispered.

"_Fourteen!_ You don't look like you've seen twelve! Now, don't stand like that. Look at people when they speak to you."

As Lucy lifted her head to Miss Josephine's and Miss Briony's level, she felt Miss Elizabeth wrap her arm around her. "That's quite enough, Josephine. You've no right to order Lucy around, or insult..."

Miss Josephine ignored her. "There that's better..." she said cooly. Her pointy nose slightly crinkled, as she let out a twittering laugh. "Although, not much."

"Why, she looks like something out of a horror story, with those great bags under her eyes."

"Enough Briony!" Miss Elizabeth raised her voice.

"Alright Elizabeth, we'll stop discussing her looks." Miss Josephine began to circle Lucy. "What's your name, Child?"

"Lucy, Miss..."

"Are as stupid as you are ugly? What is your full name?"

"Lucille Alice Turner."

"Turner?" Miss Briony chirped. "Any relation to Will Turner."

"Her brother, you half-wit!" Elizabeth interjected. "Not that it's any of your..."

"He is a handsome fellow, for a blacksmith." mused Miss Josephine. "It's interesting how different family members can be. What of your parents, child?"

"That's none of your...!"

This time it was Lucy who interrupted Miss Elizabeth. "They're dead." she said almost fiercely

"How awful," Miss Josephine didn't sound the least bit sorry. "Did you ever know them?"

"Yes, I knew my mother."

"Your father died before you were born?"

"No, he was a wealthy merchant. He always traveled." Lucy knew that she was lying. They were in no respects wealthy at all.

Miss Josephine seemed to see through the lie. "He probably just ran off with some wealthy woman."

"...That's a lie."

Miss Briony glided to Miss Josephine's side, her cruel blue eyes full of laughter."Either that or her mother was a prostitute, that would explain a father she's never met." both women burst into a fit of laughter. Miss Elizabeth's face was a deep angry red.

Lucy tried to hold the tears back. "My mother was a good woman." she croaked

But their laughter was to great to hear her. Those faces that Lucy once thought so beautiful, now looked hideous and hateful. They made her feel ugliness in herself. Lucy never thought much of her looks, and could take that kind of criticism, but when they spoke that way of the people she loved, that's what really broke her heart. Without understanding what she was doing, or remembering why she had come there in the first place, Lucy threw open the door and ran out of the house.

"Lucy!" she heard Miss Elizabeth call after her. "Lucy, come back!"

Lucy couldn't go back. She couldn't risk bursting into tears in front of those awful women. She would rather take her chances with the pirate. When she reached the bottom stair her left foot slipped out of her too big boot. Her knee slammed into the stony road. The sharp pain in her knee, and the pain of the laughter she heard behind her, caused the hot held-back tears to burst from her eyes. Without looking back, she got up and sprinted away, uncaring of the boot she was missing.

The only place she could think to run to was the Smithy. She took several deep breaths, and tried to wipe away the tears that refused to stop flowing from her eyes.

After a few minutes of ridiculous running Lucy reached the Smithy. She halted at the door, and made one last attempt at composing herself. She knocked at the door, but the only sound that greeted her was the sound of clanking of metal. She thought nothing of it, at first Will was probably just working on a knew sword. But then she hear a voice that was not Will's or Mr. Brown's. "You need to find yourself a girl mate!..." the voice grew softer as it went on, Lucy leaned closer to the door. Soon she heard her brother's voice.

"I practice three hours a day so that when I meet a pirate. I can kill it!"

_Pirate?_ The pirate was fighting her brother! She threw her whole body against the door. Surprisingly, it opened quite easily. Will must not have had a chance to lock it.

She saw Will and the pirate locked in combat. Her presence was completely unnoticed by them, only Gerdie, the donkey,'s eyes rested upon her. The pirate was certainly roguish looking. He had long, coarse, black hair. His tan skin was covered in tatoos. His clothes were tattered, but had a strange sophistication to them. Lucy racked her brain for tactics. Will had taught her a bit of basic sword fighting, but surely she couldn't take on a pirate. She kept close to the wall and watched as they jumped onto a cart. She forced herself to look away from the skilled fighting, and all around for some sort of weapon. It wouldn't take her long to find something, they did make weapons here after all.

Lucy got on her hands and knees and crawled along the dirt floor, knowing full well that she would be extremely dirty when this was all over. A large spiked mace, hanging on the wall, caught her eye. She crawled toward it, trying to focus on her brother and the pirate, who had just taken their fighting to the beams of the high ceiling. She kept her eyes on the mace. Suddenly, she heard a loud snore.

There was Mr. Brown, in a drunken sleep, an empty jinn bottle clenched in his hand. She sighed, and began to crawl past him. Suddenly, she heard both men land on the floor a little to close to her. She was running out of time. The empty jinn bottle suddenly grabbed her attention. She slowly stood and grabbed it out of his hands. Mr. Brown snorted, but did not wake.

The pirate had his back to her now. A pistol was pointed at Will's face. There was a pounding at the door. The army was here. "Move." the pirate ordered Will.

"No." he answered.

"Please move!"

"I cannot just step aside and allow you to escape."

Lucy inched closer and closer to the pirate, an overwhelming smell drifted to her nostrils. She wasn't close enough to the door to open it for the soldiers, or tell them that it was not locked to begin with. She had to act now.

"This shot was not meant for you..." the pirate's finger moved closer to the trigger.

Lucy took a breath and smashed the bottle against the pirate's head. He abruptly fell to the ground. At that moment, she heard the door break down and the running footsteps of the soldiers.

"Lucy!" Will shouted in astonishment. Lucy kept her eyes on the unconscious pirate, unbelieving to the fact that she had actually knocked him out.

"Excellent work, Miss Turner. You've assisted in the capture of a dangerous fugitive." Lucy turned around to see Commodore Norrington, and his regiment behind him, gaping at her.

Lucy felt herself blush, as she did another clumsy curtsey. "Just...doing my civic duty, sir." She looked at the faces that were as astonished as she was. She seemed to be causing quite a bit of surprise today.


	4. Chapter 3 Night of Terrors

_Author's Note: Hey guys! This chapter took me a while to write so I hope you like it. Thank you so much for all the reviews and support._

Chapter 3

Night of Terror

"I cannot believe that you apprehended the fearsome pirate, Jack Sparrow." Several gentle thumping noises told Lucy that Miss Elizabeth had climbed into her soft bed.

Lucy gazed out from Miss Elizabeth's bedroom window. The subtle traces of daylight were fading from the sky. The golden sun had nearly set. The other houses in Port Royal were like great black blobs, minus the occasional candle in the window. Only the sea, noticeable at the end of the horizon, past the town, showed signs of activity. The golden sun seemed to lay against the sea, giving of hues of orange, yellow, and lavender. Lucy couldn't help, but wonder, each time she gazed at the sea, at how far it would take her, and at what wonderful places it could lead her to. She felt guilty for it, but sometimes she wondered that if she got the chance to travel the seas, would she ever come back?

Lucy turned back to Miss Elizabeth. Miss Elizabeth was smiling up at her, her head rested against her feather pillow and an unopened novel in front of her. Lucy too the liberty of sitting on the corner of the bed. She blushed and looked down at Miss Elizabeth's hand-me-down boots, that Miss Elizabeth insisted she have due to that disgracing painful fall she had exhibited that afternoon. She couldn't help but feel a bit overwhelmed after this afternoon. The fear while racing back to the Swann house expecting to find Miss Elizabeth in need of her, the humiliation of making a complete fool of herself in front of Miss Josephine and Miss Briony, and the unexpected praise from Commodore Norrington and the rest of the army for knocking out the pirate with the jinn bottle when the recognition really should have gone to Will, who had battled the pirate and was willing to give his life so that he would not escape; all of these experiences had tried her immensely. She felt as though she could burst into tears at any moment, but Miss Elizabeth had, had a trying day, too. "If you don't mind my saying so, Miss, I can't believe you didn't faint again on shore from sheer fright. You're awfully brave."

It turned out, that Commodore Norrington, as Governor Swann had suspected, had asked for Miss Elizabeth's hand in marriage. Miss Elizabeth was suffering from the heat, and, to add to Lucy's list of guilty feelings, the too tight corset. She fainted, falling over a battlement, several feet into the water. It had actually been the pirate, Jack Sparrow, who had rescued her. However, the Commodore still intended to put him to death for his past crimes. Sparrow got a hold of Miss Elizabeth, and held her hostage for a few minutes before making his escape.

Miss Elizabeth shrugged her shoulders "It was nothing really. I suppose I was afraid, but it all happened so fast...more than anything I just felt..." she sighed shakily, her brown eyes were sad and held more than their usual shine.

Lucy put her hand on Miss Elizabeth's arm. "What did you feel, Miss Elizabeth?" she asked gently.

"I felt...I almost wished I could go with Sparrow, when he escaped." Miss Elizabeth blurted out, a few tears pouring out of her eyes. "I know that sounds horrible,...but the Commodore's proposal,...and knowing that everyone else expects me to marry him, I just wanted to escape,... leave Port Royal behind for awhile."

Lucy reached inside her apron pocket for her white cap. The troublesome thing might as well be made useful. She scrunched it up in her hand, held it to Miss Elizabeth's face, and used it to wipe away her tears. "I think I understand, Miss, sometimes I want to escape, as well."

Miss Elizabeth slipped her head from her pillow, and onto Lucy's lap. "Sometimes I feel as though I'm being separated further from what I want, from the people that I love." She let out a sob, her tears slightly increased. Lucy dropped the cap, and ran her fingers through Miss Elizabeth's hair. What she needed now was a good cry. "I couldn't even stop them," Miss Elizabeth continued. "when Josephine and Briony were saying all of those terrible things to you."

"You tried your very hardest, Miss." Lucy soothed her gently. It was true, Miss Elizabeth had stuck up for her several times that afternoon.

"But nothing I said made them stop, those horrible girls succeeded in hurting your feelings." she sighed, her voice full of doom. "That's how the rest of my life will be. I won't be able to control anything."

Lucy continued stroking Miss Elizabeth's hair, waiting patiently as her mistress wept into her lap. Lucy felt slightly touched that Miss Elizabeth felt such sadness partially on her account. She was very lucky to have such a good friend in Miss Elizabeth. Gradually, Miss Elizabeth's sobs died down. Lucy craned her neck downward, and placed a soft kiss on the back of Miss Elizabeth's head. She riddled about what words she could say to comfort her. "You...you don't have to marry Commodore Norrington, Miss Elizabeth." Lucy couldn't help thinking of her brother. Miss Elizabeth said that she felt as though she were being separated from the things she wanted. Could one of those things be Will?

"I know..." Miss Elizabeth croaked as she sat up, and leaned back against her pillow. "In all of the excitement, I didn't have a chance to give him an answer." she attempted to smile. "I suppose, I just need time. There are so many things I have to think about."

"Like what?" Lucy had no idea what possessed her to further press Miss Elizabeth, after she had just composed herself again.

Miss Elizabeth sighed, and took her book up in her hands again. "Well, I should like to be in love with the man I marry. Commodore Norrington is a good man. I suppose I could learn to love him. Do you think I could, Lucy?"

"I really don't know anything about that sort of love, Miss, or how one goes about learning to do it. I don't think I ever shall."

Miss Elizabeth took hold of Lucy's wrist. "Of course you will, Lucy. Why on earth do you think you won't?"

Lucy felt her face give way to a hot blush. She didn't used to be vain, but the incident with Miss Josephine and Miss Briony had opened her eyes to several unpleasant things about herself. "Well, I'm never going to attract a man. I'm quite ugly."

"Lucy Turner, you've allowed those awful pigs to get inside your head. You listen to me." Miss Elizabeth peered into Lucy's eyes and took hold of her face with her smooth hands. "You are very pretty."

"You needn't lie, Miss."

"I'm not," Miss Elizabeth insisted. "You have the most unique eyes, your height causes you to look most distinguished, and you will only get prettier from this point. At fourteen, I was quite gangly and underdeveloped."

"No, you weren't, Miss Elizabeth." Lucy shook her large head out of Miss Elizabeth's gentle grasp. "You have always been the most beautiful lady in Port Royal."

Miss Elizabeth shook her own pretty head as she flung herself back onto her pillows. "I say Lucy Turner, you are the most humble kind-hearted girl I've ever known, and that, in itself, will attract a man, not your looks."

"Perhaps, that only happens in your novels, Miss Elizabeth." Lucy commented as she cast a glance on the book Miss Elizabeth held in her hands.

Miss Elizabeth laughed. "Perhaps, but I prefer not to think so."

After both of them shared a good laugh, Miss Elizabeth let out another worrisome sigh. "That's another reason why I can't marry him, I've no idea why he loves me." Miss Elizabeth looked up at Lucy. Her eyes weren't exactly sad, but they looked quite grown up as though she knew she would have to leave something behind. "I would also miss you very much, Lucy. You are my dearest friend."

Lucy looked down at her hands. She knew that if Miss Elizabeth were to marry Commodore Norrington, Miss Elizabeth would have to leave the Swann house. Lucy was employed by Governor Swann, and would remain as a servant in his house. "I suppose we couldn't go on as friends forever." Lucy whispered. She remembered the days that she and Miss Elizabeth had spent together, playing games, telling stories, and what they had been doing more of these days; having night time conversations. Lucy too, felt the unbearable sadness. She would feel lonelier than ever when Miss Elizabeth left, but Lucy was her maidservant. Miss Elizabeth deserved friends that were equal to her.

Miss Elizabeth smiled sadly, and maneuvered herself to the other edge of the bed. "Get in." Miss Elizabeth patted the edge she had just been lying on.

Lucy knew it was highly improper, but the bed looked so much more welcoming than her cot in the kitchen, after an exhausting day like today. Lucy slipped off her new boots, only intending to rest only for a moment. She climbed into the soft bed, allowing her body to appreciate every warm comfortable feeling the mattress and blankets provided her. Her head collapsed into the soft feather pillow. Almost immediately, she felt her eyes close. She felt Miss Elizabeth's hand touch her shoulder. "I won't let our friendship end, Lucy. That is one thing that will never leave my control." Lucy was too tired to protest. She felt herself drift to a welcoming sleep.

_A golden haired child was racing through the Swann house. She was calling out a name, frantically searching for someone. She ran up the marble staircase. It was so dark! The child couldn't see, but she kept running. Then, there was nothing to support her feet. She was running on air, nothing but blackness in front of her. She kept running, tears of frustration streamed down her face. She could not find the person she was seeking. She began calling out a name again. "Will! Will!! Help me!!!"_ _Suddenly_, _she saw a young boy. He was lying lifelessly in the air, the darkness surrounded him. "Will!"_

"Lucy! Lucy, wake up! Wake up!"

Lucy's eyes popped open. She sat up, fragments of the dream still fresh in her mind. She realized that she had fallen asleep in Miss Elizabeth's bed, and it had been Miss Elizabeth who had woken her. Miss Elizabeth was standing over her, her face looked even paler than it had when she was wearing that awful corset. "What is it?" Suddenly, she heard a series of loud angry booms. It took her a moment that, that sound meant only one thing; canon fire. Lucy pulled on her boots, leapt to her feet and ran to the window. She gazed out into the horizon. She saw a ship with black sails floating dangerously close to the battlements. Lucy and Miss Elizabeth had educated themselves on the subject enough for Lucy to know what those black sails meant. That ship was the legendary Black Pearl. Lucy felt a shiver go up her spine as she watched large clouds of smoke and fire billow in every direction. She head a shrill scream. She looked onto the cobblestone street to see people running this way and that. She saw a young woman being chased by a man dressed in rags carrying a sharp knife.

Lucy turned from the window. "Miss Elizabeth, what are we going to...Miss Elizabeth?"

Miss Elizabeth was no longer in the bedroom. Suddenly, she heard a gun shot, which was far too loud to be heard from outside. It came from much closer. It came from inside the house. She heard Miss Elizabeth scream. Lucy sprinted out into the hallway. She heard rough unfamiliar voices shout from downstairs.

"Up there!"

"Girl!"

Immediately, Lucy saw Miss Elizabeth running back to her room, her brown eyes full of fear. Lucy could hear several heavy footsteps clomping up the staircase. There was no doubt about it. Pirates were infiltrating the house. Lucy grabbed Miss Elizabeth's arm and pulled her back in the room, locking the door behind her. They held onto each other for what seemed like hours. After gasping several times, Lucy stated the obvious. "Miss Elizabeth, they've come to kidnap you!"

"What?" Miss Elizabeth questioned, struggling to hear Lucy from the frantic thoughts screaming in her head.

"You're the Governor's daughter."

There was a loud thump at the door, causing them both to jump. Many sickening thuds followed. The pirates were right outside, trying to break down the door. Miss Elizabeth's eyes widened, and she stood up straighter, her shaking hands still clamped around Lucy's arms. "Lucy, they haven't seen you. You must run for it, the first chance you get."

"No, we'll escape together." Lucy spoke up immediately. "I won't leave you." Just the thought of it made her sick, her best friend facing several bloodthirsty pirates all alone.

"No Lucy, like you said, its me they want. If their smart they won't hurt me, but they'd have no reason to keep you alive." Miss Elizabeth told her forcefully. The door was creaking loudly. It was about to give way. "Just do what I say, run to the fort, and find my father. I'll still be safe if you hurry." The door crashed to the ground. Lucy stared into the unwashed faces of nearly ten pirates, their eyes fixed hungrily on Elizabeth.

"Run!" Miss Elizabeth screeched. Before Lucy new what was happening, she was being thrust into the doorway, even closer to the frightening faces. She could see the face of one pirate staring straight at her. He was smiling, showing all of his yellow teeth. His long stringy hair hung in his leering eyes. His arms were stretched out to her, ready to snatch her up in his arms.

She didn't know how it happened, but Lucy felt her hand clench itself into a fist. She slammed it into his face. She didn't look back to see if she had done any damage. She tried to dodge past the rest of them. She heard a crude swear She felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. She howled, realizing that one of them was trying to yank her back towards them by her hair. Lucy dared not look back, she kicked her feet and swung her arms blindly, trying to loosen the clutch. "Stop, she ain't the one we want!"

The hands released Lucy. She dashed down the hallway, casting one final look back. She could see nothing worth seeing, her vision was blurred by fretful tears. Perhaps that was best, she had to get to the fort immediately if Miss Elizabeth were to have any chance at survival.

Lucy half ran, half fell down the stairs. As soon as she reached the grown floor, she locked her eyes on the door, and lunged for it, her hand stretched out to grab the door handle. Her foot collided with something soft and yet stone-like. She fell onto it. Oh, how cold it was! Lucy looked down to see what it could be that she was lying on top of. She looked down at it, and as much as she tried to fight it, she couldn't help it. She let out a shrill scream.

It was Byron! He lay there very still. Why wasn't he moving, especially after Lucy had landed on him with such force? She stared into his light blue eyes, they stared blankly up at her. She looked down at his blue jacket. There was a hole in its breast pocket. Byron's blood ran freely from it. As she looked closer at the wound she could see that a bullet that had...killed him. The bullet must have been the shot she had heard when the pirates first entered the house. "Byron." she whispered. Lucy and Byron had never been particularly close, but he had always been civil to her. Seeing Byron's dead body, now, was heartbreaking. It was like seeing the body of Will, Governor Swann,...Miss Elizabeth.

Lucy rolled off of Byron's body and clambered to her feet. She knew that if she tarried, Miss Elizabeth could very well be the next dead body that she saw. Her hand shook as she pushed the door open. Her legs were tensed, ready to sprint for the fort. She took one last look back. She saw Miss Elizabeth running across the landing above her towards the stairs, the horrible pirates pushed and prattled each other as they pursued her. If Miss Elizabeth could keep running long enough, and if Lucy hurried to the fort their plan might work.

Lucy ran out onto the porch leapt down the steps. She was almost surprised that her feet landed safely on the cobblestone road. Grateful for her new boots Lucy ran with ease along the road. Though she tried to keep focused on getting to the fort, her eyes jumped everywhere. There was danger all around her, never had she seen so much destruction.

Vagabond men, who she assumed to be pirates, infested the streets like cockroaches. They carried torches, raising them to houses or anything else they cared to burn. She saw the citizens of Port Royal sprint past her. She felt wicked for it, but through the fear that she felt, Lucy felt a strange sense of triumph over them. Those who had looked down on her, such as Briony and Josephine, were apart of those who were running away blindly. She knew what it was like to feel lost and confused. She experienced those feelings often. Now, the roles were reversed. They were the ones that were lost and confused, scattering like mice in every direction, having no idea where to go. Lucy knew where she was going in all of this madness. She had a plan, a purpose, a mission.

Lucy turned the corner and kept running. She could see the fort now. It would only be a few minutes longer, before she reached it. "Come on, Lu'." she whispered to herself. "Your almost..."

"MAMA?!!!"

The cry that Lucy heard caused her to halt. She whirled around to see a little boy no older than two with pale blonde curls. His face was red. His mouth was open in a cry. He was wandering along the road. Crying out for his mother, who was no where to be seen in the chaos. Lucy knew that she couldn't leave him. She resolved that she would try to get the child to come with her to the fort, after she alerted the governor and the army about Miss Elizabeth she would help the child look for his mother. She began to run towards him.

The boy stepped in front of a burning house, continuing his heart breaking cry. "MAMA?!!!" Suddenly a burning beam began to fall from the roof of the house that he stood under.

Lucy gasped. She watched in mere moments as the burning beam plummeted towards the child, who was unaware to anything except finding his mother. Lucy jumped in the air and flung herself towards the boy. She extended her arms as she narrowed in on him. She grabbed hold of his small pudgy arm. She fell to the ground pulling the child who was now screaming louder than ever with her. As she landed she saw the falling burning beam, mere inches above her face. Lucy reached over and pulled the child onto her chest. She, then, closed her eyes and rolled them both away from the burning heat that she felt closing in on them.

After several rolls, Lucy opened her eyes and saw that she was lying on a road that was slightly damp. She looked ahead and saw a wooden gate. She tilted her head back and saw the main road, that she had just been on, behind her. Lucy stood up and held the screaming child in her arms. She realized that she must have rolled into the alley. It was dark, the only place not illuminated by the flames that now covered Port Royal.

Lucy checked the boy and herself for burns. She said a silent prayer of thanks that they were both unhurt. "Hush baby," she whispered, trying to soothe the child who was now howling in horror of the stranger that held him. "Come now, we'll find Mama. Shh...we'll find Mama."

This seemed to be of comfort to him he clung tightly to Lucy's neck so that she thought she might choke and buried his face in her shoulder. "Mama, where's Mama?" he asked her shoulder.

"We'll find her soon, darling." Lucy told him, kissing his blonde curls. She wrapped her arms tighter around him. She sighed anxiously. She had lost some time, but she supposed that she could run the rest of the way to the fort with the boy in her arms. Lucy jogged out of the alley and back into the street. She couldn't run as quickly, but she managed an awkward jog. "Just a bit longer." she whispered. "Hold on for a bit longer, Elizabeth."

It was not long before she heard a spine-tingling cackle a few feet behind her. She jumped at the sound. The child began to cry again. Lucy clutched the child tighter and whirled around. She saw a shrimpy-looking pirate with a long mangy beard chasing after a plump woman. He laughed wickedly and was swinging an axe around. As soon as she saw Lucy and the boy her eyes widened and she ran towards them. "Ethan!" she shrieked.

"My mama! My mama" the boy began to fight his way out of Lucy's grasp.

"Take him! Take him!" Lucy pleaded. The boy was struggling wildly now. She was at the brink of dropping him.

The woman snatched the boy out of Lucy's hands and ran off. Lucy watched them for a moment. The pirate was no longer chasing her, perhaps he had lost interest. As soon as she heard the cackle and felt the foul breath tickle her ear, she knew that she was wrong.

Lucy forced herself to turn around. The pirate with the axe stood before her. He smiled jeeringly at her, revealing his rotting teeth. He grabbed hold of her neck with his hand and raised his axe with a cackle of victory. Lucy screamed and tried to fight her way out of his grasp. He snarled and tightened it.

All that Lucy could think about was Miss Elizabeth. If Lucy died there would be no hope for her. She couldn't breath, the pirate's grip was too tight. She felt her eyelids droop. She heard the axe swinging closer and closer.

Suddenly, she felt herself hit the ground. Her throat was free. She coughed and gasped as she rolled on her side and stared up at her savior.

"Run Lucy!"

"Will?!"

It had been Will who had knocked her out of the way, and was now fighting the pirate with the axe. Lucy scrambled to her feet.

"Run!" he shouted, his sword clanking against the pirate's axe.

"...Will?"

"Go on Lucy, you can't help me."

He was right. Lucy was unarmed, but she could not bring herself to leave his side. Then again, Miss Elizabeth's time could be running out.

Suddenly, the pirate knocked the sword out of Will's hand. It flew up in the air and landed on the roof of Mrs. Mellor's pie shop. Lucy stepped closer to Will and took his hand.

The pirate held his axe high in the air. "Goodbye." he said mockingly at them.

Lucy heard Will gulp. She felt as though she might be sick.

Just then, she saw the sign of Mrs. Mellor's pie shop become unhinged. It fell with a thud on the pirate's head. He lay on the ground without moving.

"Goodbye." Will breathed a sigh of relief. Then he turned to Lucy. "What on earth are you doing out here?"

Lucy released Will's hand. "I...I have to get to the fort." She felt tears reach her eyes. What if she was too late? "It's Miss Elizabeth...the pirates... Will!!!"

She had seen Miss Elizabeth out of the corner of her eye. She was being dragged through the streets by the very pirates who had pursued her.

Miss Elizabeth saw them too. Lucy saw her mouth Will's name.

"Elizabeth." Will whispered. He began to run towards them. His sword drawn, ready to fight off all of the pirates.

Lucy felt someone knock into her. She fell to the ground to see a very large pirate run towards the group that carried off Miss Elizabeth. Will was in his way.

"Out of my way scum!" with a large meaty fist, the pirate knocked Will in the head, sending him to the ground. The big pirate ran past without looking back.

Lucy leapt to the feet and ran to her brother. She turned him over and looked at him. His eyes were closed, but he was breathing. She looked up. She could no longer see Miss Elizabeth. Shaking terribly, Lucy reached under Will's arms and hauled him to the side of the road. She hoped no one would bother him. Any pirate that came by may not even see him, or if they did they would think he was dead. Lucy turned and ran for the fort, but she knew in her heart that there was no real hope. Lucy was already too late.


	5. Chapter 4 A Maidservant no longer

_Author's note: Hey everyone! I'm very happy with this chapter and hope you guys like it, too. In this chapter a new made-up character is introduced._

Chapter 4

"Maidservant No Longer"

Lucy spent the rest of that awful night huddled under a desk in Commodore Norrington's office at the fort. Norrington had sent about half the men in his regiment to look for Miss Elizabeth along the shore.

When Lucy first got to the fort it took her forever to get any one to listen to her. When she finally did it took her even longer to get them to understand what she was saying. She knew that this was mostly her own fault. She was incredibly frantic. She made absolutely no sense for the first couple of sentences that she tried to formulate. Then, when she finally did make some sense, they interrogated her with questions, as though she had been a member of the pirate crew who had kidnaped Miss Elizabeth.

Governor Swann was no better. He was Lucy's only company after she was sent to hide with him in Norrington's office. He asked her questions too, but these questions were harder to answer. What took you so long to get here? Why didn't you take one of the other servants with you? How could you leave my daughter? He was more shocked than angry. Lucy knew that it was more than her failure that upset him. His daughter was missing. His town had been attacked.

After awhile he was quiet. He sat on the floor and turned his face away from her. His shoulders quivered as he let out a sob.

Lucy wanted to say something that expressed how sorry she was, but she was to overwhelmed to speak. She laid down on her side and curled up in the tiniest ball that her long body could make. She listened as the cannon fire outside seemed to die down. Perhaps the shooting was stopping because they had found Miss Elizabeth. No, Lucy didn't let herself think that for very long. Surely someone would have come and told them if they had found her. The reason that the shooting was stopping was probably because the pirates had achieved their purpose of kidnaping the governor's daughter, and were sailing further and further away from Port Royal, Miss Elizabeth right along with them. Lucy didn't allow herself to cry. She didn't deserve the relief that tears offered. If she had stayed with Miss Elizabeth none of this would have happened. She remembered their last conversation, one of the last things Miss Elizabeth had said. "I felt...I almost wished I could go with Sparrow, when he escaped...I just wanted to escape,...leave Port Royal for awhile."

"Lucy."

Governor Swann's whisper was quite easy to hear. The cannon fire had completely ceased, now. Lucy sat up and almost hit her head on the edge of the desk. Governor Swann was facing her. His eyes were a bit red, his face was in a sad smile. "Yes, sir?"

"I have to let you go."

"Let me go, where?"

"No, let you go as in...I'm afraid I can't employ you any longer."

Lucy couldn't help but be surprised, but when she thought about it, she supposed she understood. "...Oh."

"I realize that what happened to Elizabeth wasn't _all_ your fault. I've actually been thinking about this for awhile now. You're a good girl Lucy, probably the best, but your not a very good maid." he looked at Lucy for a moment, as though he expected her to respond, when she did not he sighed and turned away again. "The reason I kept you on as long as I did was because Elizabeth insisted upon it. You've been apart of our family for many years, but due to the circumstances of Elizabeth's future, if she is recovered..." he swallowed, and looked back at her. "I think it is high time that we all started learning our places in this world. You can go live with Mr. Brown and your brother again, can't you?"

Lucy looked down at the floor. "Yes." she whispered.

* * *

It was late morning before Governor Swann and Lucy were allowed to leave Commodore Norrington's office, but before going to look for Will, who, for all that she knew, was still lying in the gutter, Norrington ordered Lucy to accompany them to the town square to recount what happened at the Swann house last night.

"And did the pirates say anything about where they were going, Miss Turner?" Lucy sat on a stool, while Norrington and his men poured over a map of the ocean.

"No sir, they only said that Miss Eliz...Miss Swann was the one they wanted." Lucy answered softly. When Lucy had first started working for the Swanns, Elizabeth hated that Lucy called her Miss Swann and not simply Elizabeth. 'Miss Elizabeth' was their compromise. None of that mattered anymore.

Suddenly, Lucy saw Will running towards them. She stood up and tried to catch his glance. She was unsuccessful. His intense dark eyes only saw Norrington. "They've taken her. They've taken Elizabeth."

Norrington didn't even look up from the map. "Mr. Murtogg, remove this man." he droned.

"Please, don't." Lucy stepped between Murtogg and Will. "He'll leave on his own."

Will pushed past Lucy and Murtogg. Lucy watched as the fire in his eyes only seemed to grow stronger. "We have to hunt them down. We must save her."

"And where do you propose we start?" Governor Swann stepped forward. He had gradually grown out of his weary state of shock. " If you have any information concerning my daughter, please share it." he cast a stinging look in Lucy's direction. "Thanks to Lucy, that's all we can ask anyone for."

"Do you dare to place the blame with my sister?!" Will snarled. Lucy looked down at her feet, feeling quite grateful towards her brother. Everyone, herself included, blamed her for what had happened to Elizabeth. It was nice to know that there was someone who didn't.

"Miss Turner." Norrington's monotone seemed to be a bit gentler than it usually was. "You _and your brother_ may go, thank you very much for your help."

Lucy looked up, nodded, and went over to Will. "Let's just go."

They didn't move an inch before Will's attention was turned back to Elizabeth's search party. Murtogg's observation stopped him in his tracks. "That Jack Sparrow. He talked about the Black Pearl."

"Mentioned it, is more what he did." added another soldier, Mullroy.

Will forced his way towards Norrington. "Ask him where it is. Make a deal with him. He could lead us to it."

"No..." Norrington resumed his blase' tone and returned his attention to the map, which seemed to infuriate Will even more. "the pirates who invaded this Fort left Sparrow locked in his cell ergo they are not his allies. Governor, we will establish their most likely course..."

Will interrupted and startled the exasperatingly calm Commodore, by yanking the sharp axe, stolen from the pirate that Will had knocked unconscious last night, out of his belt and hurling through the map and through the table. "That's not good enough!"

Lucy and Norrington were not the only ones startled by Will's violent behavior. The whole company looked up at him with wide, shocked, and almost fearful eyes.

The silence was finally broken by Norrington. Facially he was unmovable as ever, however, his voice shook with an irritated tremor. "Mr. Turner, you are not a military man, you are not a sailor. You are a blacksmith and this is not the moment for rash actions." Norrington sighed and bored his crystal blue eyes into Will's dark ones, almost matching Will in intensity. "Do not make the mistake of thinking you are the only man here who cares for Elizabeth." Norrington yanked the axe out of the table and map, and put it in Will's hand, without saying anything more.

The fire in Will's eyes were not extinguished. He whirled around and began to hurry away.

Lucy had to run to keep up with him. He was like a machine, looking straight ahead and taking giant strides. "What was all that about?" she asked breathlessly.

He didn't answer her.

"Will? Will? Will!" Lucy continued to try, but he kept marching, as though no one was calling his name at all.

Lucy usually didn't get angry, but in that moment, she felt her cheeks burn and her heart race. She was invisible to most everyone in Port Royal, and now even her brother was ignoring her. She grabbed his arm and gave it a hard shake. "What is wrong with you?!" she asked him in a vicious voice that did not feel like her own.

Will turned and faced her. His fiery glare now focused on her. "Go home, Lucy." he snarled.

"No." she felt her own eyes blazing.

"Go back to the Swann house." he ordered his voice raising.

"No!" she shouted. Her anger was no longer controlled. Her eyes began to burn, the tears she had held back were coming up again.

"Why not?!"

"Because I don't live there anymore!" Lucy shrieked. She was glad that no one was out on the streets today. She was glad that they were far away enough from the army not to be heard. Lucy felt tears billow out of her eyes. She let out loud gasping sobs.

"What? What are you talking about?" Will asked her. He was gentler now, his voice was softening. He placed a steady hand on her back. "Lucy, what hap..."

"I've been fired!" Lucy spat, she didn't feel angry anymore, but the hot tears continued to flow. Lucy looked up at Will, who appeared to be baffled by this.

"Fired?" Will stepped back. "Because of what happened last night? It's alright Lu,' I'll go talk to Governor Swann." he reassured her, as he began to turn back.

"No, that's not why he fired me." Lucy was whispering, now. She wiped her tears on the back of her hand.

"Then, why?"

"...Because I'm not a very good maid." Lucy sighed. She couldn't believe that it was being a maid that used to secretly depress and bore her. Now, she would give anything to have her life back to the way it was, before Elizabeth was taken.

Will stood there for a moment. Then, his expression softened and he put his arms around her. "I'm sorry, Lu'." Lucy was clutched in his comforting embrace for a long time before he spoke again. "You'll have to stay at Mr. Brown's alone, then."

Lucy stepped back and stared at him. "Alone?"

Will sighed and shuffled his feet. "I'm going after the Black Pearl, and since they won't do it," he looked up and nodded towards the direction of the soldiers. "I'm going to be the one who saves Elizabeth."

"But you can't go alone."

"I'm not." Will shook his head fervently. "I'm going to the prison right now. I'm going to get Sparrow to come with me." he said it so reassuringly, as if that was supposed to make her feel better.

Lucy gasped. "Oh Will, that's even worse!" She knew that he had suggested Sparrow leading the way to The Black Pearl to the army, that was shocking in itself, but how could he even think of traveling with a dangerous pirate by himself. "He tried to kill you."

"Maybe," Will shrugged. "but it's the only way to save Elizabeth. Sparrow's the only one that can lead me to her."

Lucy sighed. "You really love her don't you, Will."

Lucy knew this was the first time he would be admitting it to anyone, maybe even himself. "More than anything." he said.

As soon as he said that he loved Elizabeth, Lucy made a decision. Will and Elizabeth were both unhappy. Will was alone and Elizabeth was engaged to a man that she did not love. In that moment, Lucy decided that she would do anything to remedy their sadness. "Then, I'm coming with you."

"Lucy, you can't come." Will said immediately. "Its too dangerous."

Lucy anticipated his refusal. She wracked her brain for a good argument. "What's going to happen to me when the army finds out you've run off with Sparrow? They might think that I had some to do with it and throw me in jail."

Will scoffed. "That's pretty far fetched, don't you think? Governor Swann and Commodore Norrington are good men they'd never do that to you."

"What if Sparrow betrays you, or you run into trouble? I know I'm pretty useless, but I did save you from getting killed." Lucy said, remembering when she had knocked Sparrow out with Mr. Brown's bottle. "And I know how to use a sword."

"Barely." Will told her. "You only know the basics."

"Well, you can teach me more on the way. We'll be sailing for awhile, before we find The Black Pearl, won't we?"

"Lucy you're not going, and that's that." Will stated flatly.

"Elizabeth told me that she'd never let our friendship end. Well, I won't let that happen either. I owe that much to her." Lucy looked straight at Will, her eyes unflinching. "I won't let you leave me behind, Will. It's partly my fault that Elizabeth was kidnaped, don't argue with me, I know it was." Lucy added when Will shook his head. "If I don't help you and Elizabeth now, I'll never be able to forgive myself...Please Will, let me come with you."

Will groaned and looked down at his feet. "...Alright...alright," he looked up at her again. He stuck out his dimpled chin firmly and fixed her with a blazing glare. "But on these conditions, you do everything I tell you, and you don't do anything unless I say so, got it?"

The conditions seemed reasonable enough. "Great, got it!" Lucy felt herself smile. She had the chance to redeem herself, but there was something else she was looking forward to, something she couldn't quite put her finger on.

"I hope I don't regret this." Will said clapping his head on his forehead. He let out a sigh and then grabbed her hand. "Alright, let's go."

It took Lucy a minute to remember that they were going to the prison to free Jack Sparrow. She had to sprint to keep up with Will, who seemed to know exactly where the prison was located. Lucy had absolutely no idea.

They ran into a long alley way, perhaps it was the same one that she had landed in last night. She wasn't sure. Soon they came to a winding staircase, leading them underground. Before going down, Will stopped her.

"Remember the conditions Lu'. Just let me do all of the talking." he told her.

Lucy nodded and let Will take the first steps downward. She followed after him. Will didn't have to worry about her doing any of the talking. Though she and Elizabeth were avid fans of pirate stories, she had absolutely no idea what to say to one.

* * *

"Ey' Joe, Gibbs is lookin' fer' ya'."

"Oh yeah, did he say what he wanted?"

"Naw' Joe, e' jus' tol' me ter' fetch ya', 'n sen' ya' upsters'." The old innkeeper let out a weather beaten sigh and shook his head. "I bin' up 'n down Tortuga, Joe. Where'd ya' run of to?"

"Never you mind, Pog. Thanks for fetchin' me. Sorry for your trouble. I'll get right to him." The boy nodded to the old inkeeper, turned from him, and the ran back for the inn.

Pog squinted after him, his glassy blue eyes blinded by the sun. "Strange Lad." he mused.

The boy was not far from the inn. As soon as he had squeezed past the ill-reputed people congesting the streets of Tortuga, he threw open the door and dashed inside.

It was early afternoon, not even the most slobbering of drunks was sitting at the downstairs bar, so the boy had no trouble getting upstairs. The boy jogged along the dark hallway, looking for his and Gibbs's room. The boy had been in this hallway many times before, but never had Gibbs and Joe stayed so long in Tortuga. It had been nearly two months since they had seen Jack Sparrow.

"Gibbs?" The boy had found the door and knocked upon it.

"Come in, Joe." he heard Gibbs's husky voice call softly.

The boy turned the door knob and walked in to see Gibbs lying on his back on the wooden floor. He had a half empty bottle of rum in hand. He kicked his leg up, raised the bottle to his lips and took a swig.

"Pog didn't say you were drinking." The boy muttered as he walked to the lumpy bed and plopped down on it.

Gibbs set the bottle down on the floor, and stared up at the ceiling. "Can't help it Joe." Gibbs raised his hairy hand to his face and let out a loud groan. "Bored out of me mind, I am. I know you don' like it, but I drink when I'm bored."

"I never said I didn't like your drinking. I don't like what it does to you, 'specially in a place like this." The boy said looking around the small dirty room. "After a couple drinks you get goofy, after a couple more you get plain weird, and after a couple more you go to sleep."

"And why does that bother you?" Gibbs asked turning his head towards the boy.

"'Cause what am I s'posed to do while your drinking? I get bored to, Gibbs." The boy rolled over on the bed and sighed. "What's it come to? Us always waiting on Jack, that's what. Why can't we go on without him Gibbs? Don't you know how long its been since we last saw him? He probably forgot about us or something."

Gibbs sat up shakily. "First off, Jack's captain, that's what a crew does they wait for their captain to come back 'n give orders. Second off, we don't know exactly where we're goin'. Third off, Jack would not forget about us, we're his crew. He needs us if he's going to get anywhere. Fourth off,...ugh..where'd my rum get to?" Gibbs ran his hand along the floor, searching for the bottle of rum.

The boy shook his head. "Anyway's what'd you want?"

"...Want?..Ah, righ'. I want ya to start keepin' an eye out for trouble." Gibbs told him lifting the bottle to his lips.

"A bit cryptic of you, Gibbs." The boy sat up and leaned forward. "Look out for what?"

"There's somethin' comin', Joe, somethin' you an' I ain't never known before. I can feel it gettin' closer each day. I don't know if it's good or bad. Just keep your whits about ya'." Gibbs was a superstitious man, this much the boy knew. Little did Joe know that Gibbs's words held more meaning than they usually did.

* * *

"We're going to steal the ship. That ship?" Will pointed to a large ship in the harbor with a number of men already on board.

"Commandeer. We're going to commandeer that ship. Nautical term." Jack Sparrow corrected him. He stood in between Lucy as Will, looking quite pleased with himself.

"But that's still stealing." Lucy said, they were standing in the shallows of the water. More than just the cold water sent chills up her spine. They had just set free Jack Sparrow, who had agreed to lead them to the Black Pearl, and now, they were about to steal a ship.

Will sent her a warning look. Lucy remembered that she had agreed to let him do all of the talking.

"You're a pirate now, Love." Jack turned his head towards her. Lucy could see an amused smile dance across his rugged features. "You'll get used to it."

Lucy nodded., and clutched the sword that Will had given her tighter in her hand. She no longer wore her maids uniform, but a white puffy shirt and some breeches of Will's that were a bit too big for her. It was Jack who had insisted upon Lucy finding some different clothes to wear. He told Will that she didn't look fit to read a nursery rhyme, much less travel on a ship in that get-up.

Jack turned back to Will. "One question about your business, boy, or there's no use going. This girl...how far are you willing to go to save her?"

"I'd die for her." Will responded immediately.

"And you?" Jack turned to Lucy, the amused smile returned to his face.

Lucy looked at Will. He to seemed curious, and nodded for her to answer. She looked back at Jack and nodded. "Um...sure." she breathed.

"Oh, good." Jack looked back towards the harbor. "No worries, then."

It was not long before Jack hatched an idea of getting aboard the ship. They got into the water and found a small boat. They got under it and swam with it towards the ship. It took Lucy a moment to remember that she had learned how to swim a long time ago. When she and Will were very young, their mother had taught them. It amazed her that she had not forgotten how.

Lucy didn't have time to think before they were climbing aboard the ship, drawing their swords, and facing down the sailors.

"Everyone stay calm! we are taking over the ship." Jack shouted.

"Aye, Avast." Will added.

Lucy half wanted to say something threatening, but she could think of nothing. Instead she pointed the blade towards the group of sailors, trying to keep her grip firm.

The sailors stared at them for awhile, and then, broke into loud laughter.

One of the younger looking sailors stepped forward. "This ship cannot be crewed by so few. You'll never make it out of the bay." he chuckled.

Jack stepped forward and pointed the same pistol that he had pointed at Will under the soldiers nose. "Son...I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?"

The laughter of the sailors changed into stares of terror. One by one the sailors leapt off the ship and into the water. Lucy watched them as they swam away, feeling slightly guilty for their frightened departure.

"We'll have to make quick work of this." Jack said, pulling Lucy away from the railing and led her over to Will who stood at the deck watching. Lucy looked where he was looking and saw the army on a ship that was gradually approaching them.

"What are we going to do?" Lucy gasped.

"Don't you worry, Love. Its all going to plan." Jack told her. "Just stand still and be a good girl, then we'll jump onto their ship." Jack said, pointing at the approaching ship.

"You mean, we're not staying here?" Lucy gasped.

"Try to keep up, Little Turner" Jack sighed. "They're here." Jack grabbed Will and Lucy's arms and led them to the edge, and forced them to crouch down. Lucy heard the footsteps of several men boarding the ship. "Alright." Jack whispered and forced them to stand. "Jump."

The three of them jumped onto the boat that the army once commandeered. Lucy couldn't help, but be baffled by Jack's brilliance. The plan now made sense. They would confuse the army with thinking that they were still aboard the ship, and thereby, they would have time to steal the other ship. That is exactly what they did. It was not long before they set sail and were getting farther and farther away from the army, who were realizing they're mistake.


	6. Chapter 5 A Pirate's Life for Me

_Author's note: Sorry this chapter took me so long to write. I've been really busy with school and stuff. I'd like to take this oppurtunity to thank my reviewers: Aquatic Cylipso (thanks so much for the advice), Natalie-07 (I love the speculation about Lucy and Jack, maybe or maybe not. We'll have to wait and see), love2rite (I totally agree. Girls are the worst!) I would really like to get some more reviews. Don't be shy!_

Chapter 5

"A Pirate's Life for Me"

They had been traveling for three days, and it seemed that Lucy Turner had spent the extent of those days on the starboard side of the ship, hunched over the side and vomiting into the ocean. That was exactly what she was doing at that moment. Lucy had decided that seasickness was the most irritating part of sailing.

After a few minutes of retching, Lucy felt a coarse hand brush the curls that had come loose from her ponytail out of her face and hold them back as she continued to vomit. She knew that the hands belonged to Will. He had the hands of a blacksmith, coarse and rough. When Lucy was able to control her stomach again, she gasped several times. Her legs trembled and she squeezed her eyes shut. The sun was especially hot and searing today.

"Alright Lu'?"

Lucy slowly turned away from the railing. She squinted at Will, who was smiling sympathetically at her. She sighed and nodded. She was extremely jealous of Will. Seasickness had not affected him at all. "Fine." she muttered through clenched teeth.

"Don't fret Smallish Turner." Jack called to her as he strolled past them. Jack had a very particular way of walking. His feet swaggered all over the place. His arms flailed this way and that, as though her were performing on a stage. "The first day at sea's always the most nauseating. You'll get your sea legs by the second."

Lucy squinted. "But...we've been at sea for three days..." she stammered.

"Really?" Jack stopped at the wheel and placed a tattooed hand on it. Lucy wondered if Jack was teasing her or genuinely confused. Jack stared up at the bright blue sky, his face appearing to be in deep thought. "Oh, right...guess there's no hope for ya' then." Jack shrugged and began to turn the wheel.

"Ugh..." Lucy plopped down and drew her legs up. Her stomach began to twist again.

"What?" Will looked down at her, completely puzzled.

"Nothing." Lucy groaned, burrowing her head into her knees. "I hate turning."

Will chuckled and sat down beside her. They didn't speak for awhile. The only sounds that could be heard were Lucy's gasps and attempts to get her stomach under control. Finally Will spoke. "Hey Lu', what do you think of Jack?"

Lucy looked up. "Why?" she asked, staring at a stubborn curl that hung in front of her eyes.

"Only wondering." Will shrugged. "We will be sailing with the man for awhile."

Lucy looked over at Jack, who was still standing at the wheel. His hands were placed firmly on his hips as he stared out into the ocean. Will allowed Lucy to speak to Jack now, not that she took any advantage of the opportunity, but from observation she found that he was very different from the murderous pirate she had expected. "Well, he is very good to help us, even if there is something in it for him, getting out of jail and all. He's brilliant. We definitely would not have been able to do this without him, but he's also very...odd. I mean sometimes I wonder..."

"What?"

"Sometimes I wonder if there's something _wrong_ with him."

Will let out a relieved chuckle. "You too?" he sighed. "I'm glad it's not just me...sometimes he scares me a bit. Late last night I heard him rustling around in the cabin, muttering something about rum."

Lucy nodded her head slowly, knowing that if she let her head bob too freely she might become nauseous again. "I heard him, too." Indeed, she had woken to Jack's voice, distinguishable from rooms away, crying out 'where is the rum?','where has the rum gone?' She continued to study Jack. "He does something else that's weird, too." Lucy scooted closer to Will. "Have you ever noticed that he...Oh!...Oh Will, look!" Lucy grabbed Will's shirt and pointed at Jack. "He just did it, what I was going to say! Did you see? Did you see it?"

"Yes...that is...weird." Will replied.

What Lucy had been referring to, was a twitch, but not just any twitch. Jack had let go of the steering wheel. His arms were stretched out in front of him. His fingers were pointed outward, as though he had spotted something. His body swung forward and then backward a few times. And then, Jack stopped and took the wheel again, as though it had never happened.

Lucy and Will stared at him for a while longer. Then Will said exactly what Lucy had been thinking. " Jack is probably the weirdest pirate of all of them. I mean, I don't know how other pirates act, but"Will sighed and looked at Lucy, his dark eyes full of regret. "Lucy...sooner or later we're going to be running into _other_ pirates. I'm sorry. I never should have brought you along. It's too dangerous."

"We've been over this." Lucy sighed. It was easier to be exasperated with her brother these days. Five minutes didn't go by without him voicing some concern of her coming with them. "I'll be fine, Will. I want to help you save Elizabeth." she paused for a moment, knowing that saying that alone would not convince him. She also wanted to be prepared for whatever they were going to face on the journey. "Will, can we start our sword lessons?" Lucy stood up slowly, her stomach churning slightly.

"Now?" Will asked, looking up at her. "Are you sure you're up for it?"

"Like Jack said, there might be no hope for me ever getting over my seasickness. 'Might as well get used to it."

Will smiled and stood up. "All right Lu'. Go get your sword."

* * *

Joe leaned against the wooden wall. He stuck his bottom lip out and let out a low moan. He watched as the people of Tortuga danced, drank, sang, and hurled obscenities at one another. Every once in a while the occasional brawl broke out, but those were of no interest to him. He glanced towards stairs . Perhaps he would go back to the room, crack one of his books open, but that would only entertain him for a little while. When you've been bored for months, its very difficult to break yourself out of it with pleasurable but regular activities.

It didn't take long before he decided that reading would be a better alternative than watching this idiocy take place. He stepped away from the wall and began to push his way through the crowd of people. He was familiar with most of the people that he pushed past, at least he had seen them all at least twice in his life. Much to his dislike, Tortuga was a common stopping place for the crew.

Suddenly Joe tripped over someone's foot and ran headfirst into an old white-bearded man with a parrot perched on his shoulder. "Ooofff! Oh, sorry Cotton," Joe immediately apologized to him. Joe looked at the parrot, who did all of the talking for the old pirate even if all of his answers were completely off topic. Joe nodded to the bird and repeated the apology. "Sorry, Cotton's parrot."

Cotton nodded. Cotton's parrot flapped his wings and squawked. "Make ready the sails!"

"I wish," muttered Joe. "See ya' later Cotton, Cotton's parrot."

* * *

"Almost, Lucy. Try again." Will had just blocked her blow with his sword.

Lucy let out an exhausted sigh. Beads of sweat rolled down her face. They had been training every afternoon for a couple of days now. She had mastered the basics, which was no great achievement, because she knew them already. Now, they had moved onto more complicated things, moves that Lucy had not known before. With those new moves, Will was teaching her to completely disarm her opponent. They had been practicing for hours and Lucy had not knocked the sword out of Will's hand yet.

Lucy took a few deep breaths and charged for him again. In a swift series of motions that she barely recognized as her own, she battled her brother. After their two metals clashed together a few times, both brother and sister unwilling to let up, Lucy, giving everything she had, hit with one fatal blow. The sword flew out of Will's hands and fell on the deck a few feet away.

"Good! Good! You did it!" Will cheered, realizing her success even before she did.

Lucy grinned, surprise and happiness bubbled inside of her. "I did it." she breathed. She looked at Will. "You didn't take it easy on me, though? Did you?" Her success felt so unreal. She had to ask.

"Not at all. You beat me all by yourself." Will barreled over to her and embraced her. Lucy felt the stickiness of both of their sweat in the warm hug.

"Well done, Smallish Turner." Lucy let go of her brother and watched as Jack sauntering towards them.

"Thanks, Jack." Lucy said.

"That kind of skill takes more than just practice. You sure you don't have some pirate blood in your family somewhere, maybe a distant cousin, uncle, father?" Jack asked. Lucy wondered again if he was teasing her, but he looked completely serious, well,...as serious as Jack Sparrow could look.

"...I don't think so." Lucy stuttered. "Not immediate family, anyway."

"He's just putting you on, Lucy." Will told her. He gave Jack a warning look and went over to pick up his sword. Even though Will had allowed Lucy to speak with Jack, he was still very protective of her. "Actually Jack," Will snatched up his sword and walked over to the railing. "Our father was a merchant sailor, I don't see much pirate in that."

"Ugh, me either, Lad." Jack said, walking towards the mast. "Sounds like the dullest job in the world."

"I would have liked to know for sure." Will mused as he leaned against the railing. "When Lucy and I were children in England our mother raised us by herself. After she died, we came out here looking for our father. We never found him."

"Is that so?" Jack asked, examining his dirty fingernails, not looking the least bit interested.

"Our father, Will Turner." Will continued for a reason that Lucy did not know. She wished that Will wouldn't talk so openly about their history, especially to Jack. They were at sea, now, with someone who didn't know them, wasn't it better not to discuss things like that? "At the jail, it was only after you learned my name that you agreed to help." Will said almost accusingly.

Lucy remembered back when Jack first agreed to help them. Maybe it was the all the overwhelming excitement that she had felt that day that kept her from noticing it. 'William, named for your father, eh?' she recalled Jack saying.

"Since that's what I wanted," Will continued. "I didn't press the matter. I'm not a simpleton, Jack. You knew our father."

Jack was silent, but his eyes were thoughtful. Finally, when Lucy's pounding heart almost ached with anticipation, Jack spoke. "I knew 'im."

Lucy was ashamed for not suspecting something, as Will had, especially about something so meaningful. Jack knew her father! It didn't make any sense, but Lucy's curiosity was almost diluted by a wave of jealousy. Why should Jack, a pirate and the weirdest human being in the world, have gotten the opportunity to know her father, when she, his own daughter had never laid eyes on him.

"...Probably one the few who knew him as William Turner." Jack continued. "Everyone else just called him Bootstrap or Bootstrap Bill."

Lucy shot a befuddled look at Will.

He only returned it and then sent it on to Jack."Bootstrap?" Will asked.

"Good man. Good pirate." Jack went on, finally looking up from his cuticles and eyed Will. "I swear Lad, you look just like him."

Lucy searched Jack's face for a flicker of humor, something that would show that he was lying or teasing them. "...No..no...he was a good man." Lucy stammered. "He was a merchant, like Will told you..."

Lucy tried to catch Jack's eye, but Jack only stared upward, as though he were very interested in the birds flying above them.

"That's right." Will stalked closer to Jack, his hazel eyes ablaze. He spoke clearly and threateningly. "He was a _good_, respectable man who obeyed the law."

Maybe it was Will's forcefulness that made Jack at least respond to him. "He was a bloody pirate, a scallywag." Jack stated matter-of-factly, as though he was stating that the ocean was blue.

Lucy's throat burned and her stomach churned. Much to her surprise, her seasickness was gradually getting better. She had not vomited all day, but now, she felt the urge to sprint to the railing and hurl into the ocean. She came to the horrible realization that Jack might be telling the truth, that her father might have been a pirate, that everything that their mother had told her about her good, upstanding, merchant father might have been a lie. She thought back to her childhood. She lived in a tiny house with her mother and brother. They barely had enough money for food. When their mother got sick they had no money for a doctor. She did not remember receiving any money from their father, only the occasional present for Will. If their father was really a merchant sailor, wouldn't he have gotten consistent pay? If their father was really a good man, wouldn't he have sent them money?

But why would their mother have lied to them all of these years? She remembered her mother as a beautiful, gracious, and cheerful woman, but she also remembered the tears that came to her eyes whenever she spoke of her husband. Once, when Lucy was very young, she had asked her mother when her father was coming home. Her mother fell to her knees and began to cry. Lucy became very afraid, but her mother took her into her arms and tried to comfort her daughter through her own tears. "Mama misses Papa, too. Don't worry, he'll come back someday, darling. We just have to be patient with him."

"My father was not a pirate!" Lucy heard Will shout.

Lucy's head snapped up. Ahead of her, she saw Will standing on the railing, his sword pointed threateningly at Jack, who's back was turned.

Jack was not afraid. In fact, he rolled his eyes and heaved a heavy sigh. "Put it away, son. It's not worth you getting beat again."

"You didn't beat me. You ignored the rules of engagement." Will replied. "In a fair fight, I would have killed you."

Jack whirled around. "That's not much incentive for me to fight fair, then, is it?" Jack grabbed the sail and pushed it towards Will. The sail caught Will and swung him out over the water.

Lucy gasped. She leapt to her feet and sprinted towards Jack. "Jack, don't!" As soon as she reached him she tried to reach for the sail, but Jack stepped in front of her. Lucy tried to push past him, but Jack would not allow it. Finally, Lucy felt the handle of her sword in her shaking hand. Trying to remember everything that she had just been taught, she raised her sword and tried to hold it parallel to Jack's face. She tried to keep her voice controlled and threatening. P..put him back! Put him back, now!" she squeaked.

Jack regarded her blankly, but he lazily reached back for the sail. Suddenly, in a swift motion, he swung his arm back around, grabbed Lucy's wrist, and turned her around. Her sword fell out of her hand. Jack held her so tightly that she couldn't move. "Now," Jack began. "as long as we're getting better acquainted with one another, I suggest that you two pay attention."

Lucy was too afraid to say anything. She wondered if Jack could feel her heart pounding. She was turned so that she couldn't see Will, but she heard no sound from him either.

Jack heaved a heavy sigh and began."The only rules that really matter are these: what you can do and what you can't do. For instance, you can accept that your father was a pirate and a good man or you can't. But pirate is in your blood, so the two of you'll have to square with that someday."

Lucy wondered what her brother was thinking. Did he accept that their father was a pirate and a good man? Did he accept that pirate was in his blood? Did she?

"Now, me, for example, I can let you drown" Jack said pointing at Will. "And I can knot Little Missy, here, into a giant Sailor's knot." he gave Lucy's wrist another tug. "but I can't bring this ship into Tortuga all by me onesy, savvy? So..." With that, Jack grabbed the sail and swung Will back on board. He released Lucy. Lucy looked over at her brother, who appeared to be relieved not to be drifting over the sea any longer.

"Fine..." Will sighed looking at Jack. "Where's Tortuga?"


	7. Chapter 6 Tortuga

_Author's note: Here's another one guys. I'd like to thank Bustedwitch for the review. Let me know what you all think of this chapter. Thanks so much for reading!_

Chapter 6

"Tortuga"

Lucy sat up in the crow's nest, staring into the night sky. She had woken up in the night unable to go back to sleep. In fact, she felt over-rested. She felt as though she could jump into the ocean and swim for Tortuga.

It had only been that afternoon when Jack had told them the true identity of their father as a pirate, and she didn't know how to feel about it. Was there a way that she was supposed to feel? At first she thought that she should be angry with her father for abandoning their family, but she found it very hard to be angry with a person she had never met. It didn't make sense. Before she knew the truth, she had loved him. She had loved a man she had never met. Why could she not be angry?

Lucy was so entranced by her own thoughts that she didn't even hear Jack climb up. He had been standing there for sometime before she realized his presence and let out a gasp.

Jack stared past her face and towards the ocean. "You took my seat." he sighed.

Lucy clung to the blanket that was draped around her shoulders and began to get up. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Before she could get to her feet, Jack plopped down next to her. "I s'pose there's room for two." he muttered.

Lucy had never been alone with Jack. Will had always been close by. She examined Jack's face, which always seemed to be lost in something far away. "Jack?" she spoke after a while.

"Huh?" Jack replied, staring at the dark waves that rose and fell. From up there it felt as though they were flying. Everything seemed so far below from up there. Lucy knew why Jack liked it up here.

"How long til' Tortuga?" Lucy asked.

"Two...maybe three days." Jack replied softly.

"Oh,...Jack?"

"Yep?"

Lucy couldn't believe what she was asking. "About my father...did he ever mention my mother, Will, or I?" Lucy looked at Jack. She never thought she'd want to talk about the past especially with someone like Jack, but he was her only hope. He was the only person who really knew her father for what he was.

"Sometimes. Not much though." Jack said, still staring out into the water. "A pirate doesn't talk much about the things he's left behind. When he did, it was usually about how pretty your mum was. Once he asked my opinion on a present he was sending for your brother...And you?...There was nothing about you."

Lucy looked down at her hands, wondering why her heart hurt as much as it did. "He never said anything?"

"Did you ever meet your father, Smallish Turner?" Jack asked.

"No." Suddenly something occurred to Lucy. Her father had left home before she was born. Her father sent nothing except the occasional present for Will. There was never anything for her. Her mother had always said that was probably because her father didn't have the time to look for two presents, and that there was sure to be one for her the next time. There never was. He had never mentioned anything to Jack about her. "You don't think he knew I existed."

Jack closed his eyes as the wind began to blow harder. "I don't see how he could." Jack sighed.

Lucy felt as though her heart could beat right out of her chest from all of the feelings inside it. "How do I know if he's my father at all?" she heard her say in a panicked voice. It was entirely possible that she had a different father. Her mother had lied about everything else, or maybe she wasn't even her mother. Perhaps she wasn't even Will's sister. Perhaps everything that she ever thought she was, was a complete lie. Perhaps she didn't belong to anyone at all.

"I wouldn't worry about that." Jack chuckled.

"Why?" Lucy practically shouted.

Finally Jack looked her right in the face and smiled. "You have his eyes, love."

* * *

They made harbor in Tortuga two nights later. As soon as Lucy's feet met the dock she began to feel dizzy. Will kept a steady arm around her as the three of them walked into the street. Lucy wondered if she would throw up like she had when they had first begun to sail. She began looking for a dark corner where she could run to when she felt sick. As she looked around more she realized that getting sick in public would probably go unnoticed compared to everything else going on.

This place was not at all like the quiet and upstanding town where she had grown up. Loud and jubilant shouts erupted from every corner of the island town. The dirt pathway was littered with swaggering drunk men and half dressed women who's faces were so made up that Lucy thought they resembled court jesters and clowns. Lucy had to cling to Will's arm to keep from bumping into people.

Jack walked backwards so that he could face Will and Lucy. "It is indeed a sad life that has never breathed deep this sweet, proliferus bouquet that is Tortuga, savvy?!" he shouted over the noise. He looked around admiring the island as though it were his heaven next to the water. "What do you think?"

"It'll linger." Will said after a pause.

"Like an eye sore." Lucy giggled into Will's ear.

"I'm telling you," Jack, who had obviously not heard them, rounded about and put his arms around them. "If every town in the world were like this one, no man would ever feel unwanted...Scarlett!"

Suddenly a gorgeous woman with ruby red lipstick and dandelion blonde hair strutted up to the exhilarated Jack, who held out his arms for her. Her blue eyes bulged and her red lips pursed tightly together. She raised her hand and slapped Jack across the face so hard that his head went almost completely around.

"Not sure I deserved that." muttered the disoriented Jack. He snapped his head back around and was greeted by a completely different woman. She too was a beauty, but was stouter and had curly auburn hair.

"Giselle!" Jack greeted her almost as affectionately as the last woman.

Giselle raised her thin eyebrows and looked after Scarlett who was strutting away. "Who was she?"she asked icily, before slapping Jack even harder than Scarlett had. Lucy could swear that she saw Jack's head whirl around twice.

Giselle strutted off. After Jack had recovered from the blow, he looked back towards Will and Lucy. "I may have deserved that." he admitted softly.

"Shouldn't we find this contact of yours before you have another lover's quarrel?" Will asked mockingly.

"My thoughts exactly mate." sighed Jack. "Come along children." Jack beckoned to his followers.

Lucy and Will followed Jack, who seemed to be walking aimlessly through the street. They followed him for what seemed like hours. Jack lead them through several streets and alleyways, after awhile they had seen every one of them twice. Jack told them who they would be meeting, an old friend called Gibbs, but he didn't seem to know where to find him.

Will seemed to be getting nervous. "Lu' if anything happens I want you to use what I've been teaching you." He whispered in her ear.

"What?" Lucy asked, taken aback by the suggestion. However, it didn't take her long to figure out what Will meant. "You mean fight Jack? Why?"

Will raised a finger to his lips and looked at Jack to make sure he hadn't heard. "We've been wandering around forever. There might be no Mr. Gibbs at all. Jack could be leading us into a trap."

They turned a corner, onto a street they had seen for a third time. "Why would there be a trap?" Lucy whispered. "What would Jack get out of it?"

"I don't know, but I don't trust him, at least not yet." Will said. "He's a pi...he's not...we just don't know that much about him." he stammered.

Lucy followed as Jack lead them into an alleyway, one that they had not yet seen. She knew that Will was going to blame his distrust of Jack on the fact that he was a pirate, but that was not so easy to do anymore. Their own father was a pirate. In a way, they were too. As Jack had said, pirate was in their blood. They had stolen a ship and they were traveling with a pirate. However, Will was right. They did not know much about Jack. But Lucy wondered if she trusted him. In a way, he had comforted her two nights ago. She had trouble thinking ill towards the man who seemed to care enough about her to at least reassure her. Then again, he had threatened Will and her life on several occasions. He had held a knife to her throat. He had held a pistol to Will's head.

Before Lucy could think any further on the subject, she found herself staring at a grimy looking man sleeping in a pig pen. The pigs snorted, grunted, and sniffed about as though his presence there was not at all out of the ordinary.

Without a moments hesitation, Jack picked up a bucket of water by the pen and threw it on the sleeping man.

The man woke, sputtered, and swore loudly. "Curse you for breathing, you slack-jawed idiot!...Jack!" his glassy eyes widened as he looked up at Jack. "You should know better than to wake a man when he's sleeping." he told Jack in a lower tone. "'S bad luck."

"Ah, fortunately I know how to counter it." said Jack with a smile. "The man who did the waking buys, the man who was sleeping, a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking."

It didn't take the man long to take Jack up on his proposition for a free drink. "Aye, that'll about do it." he said with a nod.

Before the man, who Lucy guessed was Mr. Gibbs, could get up Will grabbed another bucket off the ground and threw it on him again.

"Blast! I'm already awake!" howled Gibbs.

"That was for the smell." muttered Will.

The soaking wet Gibbs got to his feet and led them to the local inn. It seemed to Lucy that everyone else in Tortuga was going there too. The crowd only increased the closer they got to it. When they walked in Lucy could see why.

"Ah..." Jack sighed as they walked in to the inn. "This is better than the bouquet young William! This is the banquet!"

Didn't a banquet require more than one food or drink? All that Lucy could see around her were hoards of people consuming bottles of rum.

Jack and Gibbs scurried to the bar like mice eager for a piece of cheese. Lucy and Will decided to stand in a secluded corner in the back.

"I suppose we'll be spending the night here." Will muttered looking around. "I don't know what I expected, but...do you think you'll be able to handle it here Lucy."

Lucy smiled at her brother. "I guess I'm going to have to learn how to handle a lot of things on this trip. Don't worry it's only for one night."

"Hopefully." sighed Will.

"The only thing..." Lucy yawned. She felt her eyes droop. "...is that it's awfully late. Do you think there's any place to sleep?"

"I should think we're sleeping in Mr. Gibbs's room. I heard him say that he's been staying here." Will replied. "Why don't you ask the bartender where the room is?"

"Aren't you coming, too?" Lucy asked.

"Later." said Will. "I'm going to find Jack and Gibbs. It looks as though they've gone to find a table. Will you be alright on your own?"

"I'll be fine." Lucy grinned teasingly. "Will you?"

"Fine." laughed Will. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Lucy cautiously made her way to the bar, hoping not to disturb anyone who was waiting for a drink. "Pardon me?" she called to the barman, who looked so old and frail that a gust of wind could have blown him away.

"Need somethin' missy?" the old fellow replied looking up from his work.

"Do you know where Mr. Gibbs' room is, sir?"

"Who?"

"Mr. Gibbs!" Lucy said a little louder.

"Oh yeah, I know whar' tha' is." The man pointed towards the staircase. "Ya' walk on up them stairs an' take a righ'...it's the thir' door."

"Thank you." Lucy was about to curtsy to him, but remembered that she was in pants. Besides, manners probably weren't as important to the people who lived here.

Lucy had to squeeze past a few people before getting to the stairs. When she found them she climbed up them and was relieved to see that the hallway that she walked down was bare. _Perhaps I'll get a good nights sleep with this quiet. _She thought to herself. Then she heard a glass break and a loud howl from downstairs, and realized that she would not.

Lucy found the third door on the right and opened it. She walked into the tiny room, almost completely darkened by night. A single candle on the night stand was the only source of light. She noticed that there was only one bed, so she decided to make a little cot on the floor. She walked to a little cabinet against the wall, hoping to find some blankets or a pillow. On her way, her foot caught on something and she tripped. Lucy caught herself with her hands and sat up on her knees. She picked up the little thing she had tripped on. It was a small cardinal red book. Next to it was a neat pile of more books.

Lucy smiled to herself, remembering all of the books she and Elizabeth had read together. She opened the red book and began to flip through the pages. Shortly, she realized that most of the pages were blank. Only the first page had words on it. The words were not printed, but written. The handwriting was beautiful. It was not exactly neat, but it was stylish and unlike any hand she had ever seen. Because of the lack of light Lucy could not read it, but she gazed at the writing, feeling as though she were looking at a picture.

Suddenly she heard footsteps. She listened for a while and realized that they were getting closer. She heard someone walk over the threshold of the room.

It was one the stupidest thing she had ever done, but all Lucy could think was that she was in somebody else's room, handling someone else's book. She couldn't let whoever came in see that she was snooping around. Quickly she stuffed the red book into her pocket and stood up. She would put it back as soon as she was alone again.

She hadn't turned around before she felt something hard and cold at her back. It took her a moment to realize that it was the barrel of a gun. A voice that she did not recognize whispered in her ear. "Don't move."


	8. Chapter 7 New Faces

_Author's note: Whew! Sorry this one took such a long time. I hope it's worth it. I hope you're all having a great summer. Keep reviewing!_

Chapter 7

"New Faces"

Lucy felt her sword being pulled out of her belt. She heard the clank as it was thrown to the ground, and scolded herself for not trying to fight when she had the chance. Now, she was unarmed.

"Turn around." the voice instructed.

Lucy had no choice. She did as she was told. She turned around and faced her captor.

She was more than surprised to see that it was not a man that she come face to face with, but a boy. He didn't look to be much older than she. He was possibly shorter, and wore clothes that were baggy and a bit too big for him as though he were trying to compensate for his small stature.

He seemed to share in his surprise as he looked her head on. He straightened his cap and scoffed as he lowered the gun. "You're only a girl."

"Yes." Lucy breathed with some relief. "I...I think I'm in the wrong room." Lucy nodded politely and hurried to the door.

The boy beat her to it. He closed the door and held tightly to the knob. He just stood there, staring at her.

"Eh...excuse me..." Lucy stammered.

The boy only stared at her with a blank look on his face.

Lucy looked past him nervously. "Could you open the door, please?" she asked. "I need to find my room."

"What were you pokin' around here for?" the boy asked her accusingly.

"I...I wasn't." Lucy stuttered. "I told you, I thought this was my room."

"Then what were you doin' on the floor?"

By this time Lucy was so nervous that she had completely forgotten about the red book. "I...I was looking for a place to sleep." Hadn't that what she'd been doing? She came up here because she was tired, didn't she?

"More like lookin' for the cash box."

"I was not!" Lucy was still a bit nervous, but she was getting rather irritated too. She had been scolded for many things in her life, but never for lying or stealing. How dare this boy accuse her falsely. He was just like Briony and Josephine back in Port Royal. "Now, open the door at once!" she heard herself order the boy.

She didn't know what she had expected him to do, but one thing was certain. He did the exact opposite of what she had _wanted_ him to do. He took what Lucy discerned as a key out of his pocket. He put it in the lock, turned it to the left, and took it out again. She was locked in a strange room with a strange boy.

Lucy stared at the boy. He stared back, regarding her with the same blank stare. After what seemed like silent ages, he took a step towards her.

Immediately, Lucy backed away from him. "You leave me alone." she tried to make her voice low and threatening, so that he would not detect her fear.

The boy seemed to see right past that. He laughed. "Look, I'm not gonna murder you or anything. I'm just gonna see if you took anything."

"I told you I didn't...!"

"Didn't take anything." the boy cut her off, mocking her by raising his low voice a few octaves. "Yeah, I heard you the first time. You expect me to believe you? What would you think if you saw somebody pokin' around in your place?"

Lucy thought for a minute. "Well, look around the room then. Look in your cash box." she advised softly.

"Can't do that."

"Why not?!"

"'Cause, then you'd know where it is." the boy said in a blandly logical tone, which Lucy was beginning to find exasperating.

"If I took your money," Lucy snarled through clenched teeth. "Then I'd already know where it is."

"So you admit it."

"Admit what?!" she was shouting at him now.

"That you took something!" He shouted back.

"I did not!"

They went back to staring at each other. Lucy's face felt hot from all of the anger that she felt. His expression, of course, remained blank.

"Look," the boy said, breaking the silence. "I'll let you go after I frisk ya'."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm...going...to...frisk...you." the boy said dragging each word. It was the first time Lucy had detected annoyance in his voice. He took a step towards her. Lucy backed away

What did 'frisk' mean? She had never heard or used the word. Whatever it was she didn't like the sound of it. "You'll do no such thing."

"Listen, I want you outta' here just as much as you do." the boy sighed taking more steps toward her. "But that ain't gonna happen til' I'm sure ya' didn't take anything." He came even closer.

By that time, Lucy was nearly backed against the wall. As he moved closer she stepped to the side. The boy lunged after her, nearly running into the wall.

In a second, she realized that since the boy was pursuing her, she could easily get to the door. She turned and sprinted to it. She pounded on the door and shouted. "Help! Help!!"

She felt the boy grab her arm. She howled as he dragged her back towards the middle of the floor. "Spread out your arms 'n legs, and turn out your pockets!" he grunted trying to keep a hold of her.

Lucy did not spread out or turn out her pockets. She raised her hand and slapped him hard across the face.

The boy let go of her immediately. His mouth hung open in surprise. "You...you hit me." he stuttered in astonishment.

"I'll hit you again if you don't let me out!" Lucy shouted.

Suddenly a loud knocking came from the other side of the door. "Joe, what's going on in there?"

"Nothin,' we just got a thief in here. Come in an' help!" the boy barked. He grabbed her arm again. "You stay here." he ordered

Lucy knew that she couldn't fight against two people who wanted to 'frisk' her. Her only hope was to run through the door as soon as the stranger opened it, but she had to get away from the boy first.

Lucy heard the lock break and the handle turn. At that instant, she made her hand into a fist and slammed it hard into the boy's stomach. The boy let out a surprised and pained groan. He let go of her arm doubled over in pain. Lucy heard the swish of the door opening and ran towards it.

"Lucy?!"

Lucy screeched to a halt as she stared into the faces of the last people she had been expecting. There were Will, Jack, and Mr. Gibbs! Relief took place of all the fear and anger she had previously felt.

"You okay Lu'?" Will asked.

Lucy sighed and smiled up at her brother. "I'm fine. I just"

"What's the matter with you, boy?" Gibbs cut her off as he walked over to the boy, who was making an effort to stand up straight after Lucy's blow. "Fightin' with a gal!" Gibbs puffed, giving the boy a smack on the head. "Ain't yer' got any manners?"

"Thought she was a thief." muttered the boy. Lucy realized that she could see a lot of pink in his cheeks, in fact, she could see everything much better. Her eyes searched for the source of the light and she realized that Jack had lit the candle.

"I wouldn't be to hard on the boy, Gibbs." Jack drawled as he strolled up to Gibbs and the boy. "Take one look at im' an' you can see that little Turner won the fight."

Gibbs chuckled dryly. "Aye, I can see tha'."

"It wasn't a fight." the boy muttered bitterly. He raised his hand to a particularly red part of his cheek. He kept his eyes on his shoes and muttered. "Goin' for a stroll." He pushed past them and out the door.

Lucy looked after him, quite relieved that he had gone. What a horrid boy!

Gibbs sighed and closed the door after him. He went to the cabinet and pulled out some pillows and blankets. "I s'pose we'd best be gettin' ter' sleep." he said laying them on the floor. "We're leavin' early tomorrow."

Will and Lucy hurried over to the blankets and pillows and began to make their cots. Jack began to pace and muttering as though he were trying to remember something.

"Do you have an able-bodied crew for me Gibbs?" he finally asked.

"Aye." said Gibbs. "And the best assembled one we've ever had. These men are top notch, they are..."

"How many?" Jack interrupted.

"Includin' me 'n Joe there was thirteen of us," Gibbs answered proudly. Awf'ly unlucky number, but now that we've got you 'n..."

"Oh Gibbs," Jack groaned, and clutched his braided head. " You're not bringin' the kid again?"

"Why not?" Gibbs asked. "Joe's been our cabin boy fer' years."

"But he's..." Jack's voice was very close to the whine of a ten year old. "He's such a wet blanket...and he's violent. He...uh..he practic'ly tried to kill smallish Turner. Besides, we have two new cabin boys." he exclaimed, turning excitedly towards Will and Lucy.

"I'm not interested in being your cabin boy, Jack." Will told him, looking up from his cot. "I'm only interested in finding Elizabeth."

"What about you, Smallish Turner?" Jack asked.

"Well..I...um...I don't think..." Lucy stammered.

"Perfect!" Jack interrupted, giving her a painful slap on the back. "You see Gibbs, problem solved. Be reasonable, overloading the ship would be unlucky, anyway."

"What's unlucky is havin' a woman on board." Gibbs replied, looking warily at Lucy. Particularly a mini...Miss Turner! What are you doing?!"

Lucy had begun to lay down on her cot, but sat up straight in fright. "I...I'm going to sleep."

"Not on the floor. 'S bad luck for a lady to sleep on the floor." Gibbs told her. "You'll sleep on the bed tonight."

Lucy blushed. She had never been called a lady before. She was glad to be sleeping on a bed, after sleeping on the hard bunks of a ship every night. "Thank you." Lucy said as she got up off the floor and went over to the lumpy large bed.

She pulled off her boots and slipped into bed. Immediately, she began to drift off. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Will lying on his cot already sound asleep. Jack was continuing to argue with Gibbs. Lucy knew it was wicked of her, but she secretly hoped that Jack would get his way. In fact, Lucy hoped that she never saw that boy, Joe again. She really didn't like him.

* * *

Much to her dismay, Lucy saw Joe as soon as she opened her eyes early the next morning. He, Gibbs, Jack, and Will were all already awake and packing.

Lucy yawned at sat up. As soon as she did so, she felt something hard rub against her hip bone. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the red book.

Immediately she panicked. Joe had accused her of stealing last night and that was exactly what she had done. This book probably belonged to Mr. Gibbs or even Joe. Lucy searched for the stack of books where she had found it, but she couldn't see any books anywhere. Someone must have packed them away already. Lucy stuffed it back into her pocket. She would give it back after she had some time to think. How would she explain this?

She got out of bed and put her boots on. Soon after Gibbs and Joe had all of their things, they went downstairs for some breakfast. All through the meal Gibbs kept talking about the marvelous crew waiting for them at the harbor. Jack seemed unimpressed by this, obviously he had been unable to talk Gibbs into leaving Joe behind. Lucy wondered if Joe was aware of Jack's dislike. It was hard to tell what Joe felt at all. He ate silently and did not seem at all phased by her presence at the table.

After breakfast they walked down to the harbor. Lucy kept close to Will. She was a bit nervous about meeting the crew and she could tell Will was too. What if they were horrid like Joe or strange like Jack?

Soon they approached a group of men. Gibbs ordered them to stand straight in a line. Jack walked down it studying each member of the crew. Will and Lucy followed behind.

"Feast your eyes, Captain." Gibbs broadcasted to Jack. "All of them, faithful hands before the mast, every man worth his salt...And crazy to boot."

Lucy and Will shot each other nervous glances as they followed behind Jack. Lucy looked shyly at each of the men, who only stared back at her. Most of them looked like Jack; long hair and strange clothes. Though they were silent and standing in a straight line, they looked nothing like the soldiers in Norrington's regiment or any other army of men. They were hardly fearless looking, as Lucy had imagined them.

"This is your able bodied crew?" Will asked. Lucy could tell that he was disappointed, for not one of them looked terribly big or strong. One man was barely three feet tall and another man with a parrot perched on his shoulder was balding and had a great white beard.

Jack stopped in front of the old man with the parrot. "You, sailor!"

Gibbs hurried over to Jack and the old sailor. "Cotton, sir." he clarified.

"Mr. Cotton," Jack said turning back to the old sailor. "Do you have the courage and fortitude to follow orders and stay true in the face of danger and almost certain death?"

Cotton simply stared at him.

"Mr. Cotton! Answer, man!"

Joe, who Lucy had forgotten about, stepped out of line and spoke to Jack. "Sir, he's..."

"Mute." finished Gibbs, shaking his head at Joe.

Joe sighed with frustration and stepped back in line.

"Poor devil had his tongue cut out." continued Gibbs. Lucy watched with shock as Cotton opened his mouth to reveal no signs of their ever being a tongue at all. "So he trained the parrot to talk for him. No one's yet figured how."

"Mr. Cotton's parrot..." Jack said looking at the bird perched on Cotton's shoulder. "Same question."

"Ready the sails! Ready the sails!" the bird squawked.

"Mostly, we figure, that means 'yes'." Gibbs explained.

"And what's the benefit for us?" a man with a big straw hat at the end of the line barked the question.

Knitting his eyebrows quizzically, Jack abruptly turned and walked over to the man. He removed the straw hat. As he did so, long coarse black hair fell down the shoulders of the stranger. Lucy gasped, realizing she was looking into the face of a woman.

Jack grinned and spread out his arms for her. "Anamaria!"

Anamaria gave him a hearty slap across the face.

"I suppose you didn't deserve that one either?" Will asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No," moaned Jack. "That one I deserved.

"You stole my boat!" Anamaria spat fiercely.

Jack raised one finger. "Actually"

She slapped him again.

"Borrowed." Jack corrected himself. "Borrowed without permission. But with every intention of bringing it back to you."

"But you didn't!" Anamaria bellowed.

"You..you'll get another one." stammered Jack.

"A better one." Will added.

"A better one." Jack repeated grandly.

"That one." Will said pointing to _The_ _Interceptor_, the very ship they had been sailing on and were about to board.

"What one?" Jack asked turning to look where Will was pointing. _"That one?!" _Jack growled when he realized what Will was making him give up. He sighed and turned back to Anamaria. "Aye, that one." he planted a fake grin on his face and gestured to the whole crew. "What say you?!"

After a pause the crew let out loud 'aye's' all over the place. Before Lucy knew what was happening the crew was boarding _The Interceptor_. Will was already on board. Only she, Jack, Gibbs, and Joe were still on land. Jack and Gibbs were standing very close together whispering. Joe stood a little ways behind Jack, as though he were waiting for something.

There was no reason to stick around. Lucy was very glad to be leaving this place. Even though she was grateful to spend some time on land again, this was a crude and frightening place. She began to walk towards the ship.

"Wait up, smallish Turner!"

Lucy turned around to see Gibbs walking towards the ship and Jack waving wildly at her. While he was waving, he accidentally smacked Joe, who had inched a bit closer, on the head.

"Can I help you?" Lucy heard Jack ask the boy irritably as she walked back to them.

Joe fastened his face in resolute scowl and stared straight at him. "Just waitin' for orders." he muttered bitterly.

Joe looked down at him and waved his hand in Joe's stern face, as though he were trying to get rid of an annoying fly. "Here's one for ya'...shoo."

Joe took a few steps back, but did not leave his side. "Accordin' to the code, the cabin boy waits for specific orders from the captain before the voyage. Elsewise' I wouldn't be standin' here."

"Well you don't have to worry about waitin' any longer." Joe replied. He swiftly turned to Lucy and wrapped his arm around her. "How's my new cabin boy?"

"Your..._what?_" Joe barked before Lucy could say word.

"Cabin boy, kid. Take it as a graduation." Jack groaned an explanation. "You're a full fledged pirate."

"But..." Lucy began. "I...I don't know the first thing about sailing."

"Then why did you agree to it last night?" Jack asked as though she had deeply wounded him.

"I..I didn't agree. You"

"No matter." Jack interrupted removing his arm and strolling backwards towards the ship. "Strike that, Joseph. You haven't graduated yet, not until you teach Miss Turner ev'rything there is to know about sailing. See you on board." With that he turned an hurried onto the ship.

"Wait! Jack!" Lucy shouted after him. It was no use. She knew Jack would not take back his word. She sighed and turned towards her new teacher. Perhaps she shouldn't have been so eager to leave Tortuga.


	9. Chapter 8 Cabin Boy InTraining

Author's note: I had a horrible case of writer's block with this chapter, but it's all good now. Thank you XPrincessX93 and marshmallow jam for the great reviews. Let me know what you all think of this chapter.

Chapter 8

"Cabin Boy In-Training"

Lucy and Will were now known as members of Jack Sparrow's crew. When they had traveled with Jack a few days before, they were on no particular schedule. They got up whenever they felt like it. They occasionally helped Jack, but they mostly fenced and trained with their swords. Sometimes they would lie on the deck and lazily watch the clouds flying by.

Now, everything was different. Lucy and Will didn't see each other half as often as they used to. At dawn the whole crew awoke. They ate a quick breakfast, which was usually some sort of gruel-like porridge that Gibbs threw together. Then, they would find themselves lost among the crew. Lucy would mysteriously find a mop, bucket, or broom in her hand. Will would be expected to secure the sails, check the rudder, or any of the other duties that the crew did. After a long day they would usually eat some bread and leftover porridge and go to bed. Their sleep wouldn't last half as long as Lucy wished it would, and they would be up the next morning working all over again.

Lucy had to admit that being a pirate was not quite what she thought it would be. Just like maidservants pirates had to work. It wasn't adventure after adventure. Sometimes she daydreamed of being somewhere else...anywhere else. However, she did not want to go back to Port Royal. She was a nobody there. Now, she was a member of Jack Sparrow's crew, even if she was only the subordinate to the cabin boy.

The other crew members were alright, but like Jack they were all a bit unusual. Anamaria was feisty and harsh. She seemed to have a certain disdain for the other crew members. However, she did take a bit of a 'liking' to Lucy, if you could even call it that. They hardly ever had a real conversation, but at meals Anamaria insisted that Lucy sit next to her. She made Lucy move to the bunk bellow hers. (Anamaria also insisted on sleeping on top).

"Women 'ave to stick togetha'." was her reason for this. "'Specially if they're pirates."

Cotton and his parrot were both polite enough. When she was discouraged Cotton would give her a tongueless, and toothless, but friendly grin, and a pat on the back. Cotton's parrot would add a squawk.

"Make ready the sails!" Lucy assumed that meant. 'Buck up.'

The fact was that all of the crew members had their quirks. Marty, the smallest member of the crew, was quick on his feet and had ears like a fox. Gibbs, who cursed swear and stomp around when he got drunk, could also be mistaken for the sweetest and most well-mannered man you ever saw. Lucy couldn't say that she disliked any members of the crew...except for one.

What Lucy hated most about her life as a crew member, was that she had to spend every day with Joe, who was more of a wet blanket than the mop that she used to swab the decks. He was cold and made no attempt to get to know her, or apologize for his behavior in Tortuga. Ever since Jack had instructed that Joe train her, he had been insufferable. He never let her have a moments peace. Whatever she cleaned, he made her clean it again. Whatever knot she tied he made her tie it again.

"If your going to do something, you've gotta do it right." he always told her.

Her only escape from him, his stickler eye, and his arrogant smirk was when she was tucked up in her bunk sleeping deeply. She was having a particularly nice rest on the fifth night of their voyage, when she felt herself being shaken roughly.

Groggily she opened her eyes to see Joe's face looming inches above hers. Thinking she was having a nightmare, Lucy turned away and closed her eyes again.

"C'mon," Joe shook her so hard that it hurt. "Time to get up."

"Can't be," Lucy muttered opening her eyes to the bleak cabin. "It's still dark."

"Ya' deaf? Can't ya' hear the rain and thunder above us? Can't ya' feel the boat rockin'?" Joe was practically dragging her out of bed. "We're in bad weather."

As soon as Lucy got to her feet, she realized that they were indeed going through a storm.

"All hands on deck!" she heard someone howl over the sloshing of the water.

"Hurry up, Joe!" Anamaria poked her dripping wet face down into the cabin. "We're gettin' flooded up 'ere!"

"Coming!" Joe pushed Lucy up the steps.

In less than a second they stood on deck. The boat shook back and forth so violently that Lucy felt that she could either topple over or rediscover her previous seasickness at any moment. Lucy had never felt so much rain in all her life. The second she had gotten on deck, which was already flooded, she had become completely soaked. She tried to look for her brother, but the rain blinded her so that all she could make out were several blobs running to and fro. The only color she could see in the blackness was the occasional flash of white lightening. The thunder boomed like canon fire. Storms had never frightened her, but Lucy felt that she could more easily drown in this storm than in the ocean beneath her.

"Easy now," Joe's whispered in a tone that could almost be mistaken for gentle. "Look we don't want anyone to slip." he said indicating to the flooded deck. "Let's get some buckets an' we'll get rid a' somma' this water."

Lucy sighed to calm herself. "They're down in the cabin, aren't they?"

Joe didn't answer right away. He bit his lips and shifted his eyes like he was embarrassed about something. "I didn't bring 'em down after we were done...They're aroun' 'ere somewhere." he said looking around the deck. "I'll look for one an' you look for the other. We'll meet at the bow." With that Joe took off looking for a bucket.

Lucy's forehead broke out in sweat when she realized that she'd have to run around in the dark all alone. She began running blindly through the rain, bumping into people along the way. She slipped and slid around in search of a bucket. She felt as though she had circled the deck hundreds of times.

She saw a blob wearing Joe's brown cap at the bow. He had found a bucket and was already scooping up water from the deck and hurling it into the sea.

Lucy sprinted towards him anxious, soaking wet, and at the brink of tears. "I can't find it!" she screeched through the billowing wind.

"Huh?" Joe howled back. When he noticed that she was bucketless his eyes widened. "What are you doing?! Get a bucket!"

"I'm trying to tell you, I"

"Find one!!"

Lucy left him in a huff. First Joe couldn't take it upon himself to take the buckets into the cabin at the end of the day, and now he didn't even have the time to listen to her. Wait! The cabin! Perhaps she could find another bucket down in the cabin. Lucy ran for the cabin opening and raced down the steps.

She scanned the place for a bucket or anything else that would work. She stumbled into the kitchen. She scoured the floor and found nothing. Just as she was about to despair, Lucy saw out of the corner of her eye the very thing that she could use.

Gibbs's metal porridge pot, still grimy from dinner, loomed before her like a beacon of hope. It was not quite as big as the buckets, but it was close. Lucy snatched it up in her arms and ran back up to the deck.

The rain was pouring even harder, if that was even possible, but Lucy was not afraid. She was armed now. Lucy scurried to the bow and eagerly joined Joe in collecting the water in the porridge pot.

Joe, Lucy, and the whole crew slaved silently for what seemed like hours. Lucy's arms throbbed with pain and fatigue. The rain refused to let up. The thunder boomed more loudly. The flashes of lightening drew closer.

Lucy was scooping up a particularly heavy potful of water when she heard Joe speak for the first time since she had come back from the cabin. "What is that?!"

Lucy looked up at him. The lightening flashed so close to them, so that for a split second Lucy could clearly see Joe's face. For the first time, Lucy noticed that Joe appeared to be completely terrified.

"Put that down!" He dropped his bucket and sprinted towards her at top speed.

Lucy was so frightened by his outburst that she spilled some water, but she only clung more tightly to the pot.

Joe wrestled the pot away from her and threw it to the ground.

As soon as the pot left Lucy's hands, her fear completely vaporized. "What on earth?!"

But Joe wasn't looking at her. In fact the whole crew had stopped what they were doing and were all staring up at the mast. They watched as a sliver of lightening struck it with a loud sizzling sound. Light trickled all the way down the wooden mast and onto the deck. The crew backed up against the sides and continued to watch in fear.

The light found it's way to the metal pot. For a moment pot lit up like a candle, and then exploded in half. The water it had held bubbled from the heat.

They all stared for a minute, and then the blobs gradually went back to work.

"You alright, Lu'?" Lucy heard Will's shaky voice beside her.

"I'm fine." she whispered.

"Good." Will sighed.

"Oy, Turner!" she heard Gibbs call from across the deck.

Will groaned and ran back to his work. "I'll see you soon!" he called back to her.

After Will had left, Joe bounded towards her. "What ya' hafta' go an' do a thing like that for?" he asked her heatedly.

Lucy was quite confused. "I...I didn't do anything." she stammered.

"Didn't do anythin'?" he barked. "Ya stupid git, don' you realize why tha' happened? Lightenin' loves tha' kinda' metal." he said thrusting his hand to the broken pot. "You coulda' killed yourself. You almost killed the whole crew."

Lucy stared down at the broken pot and the boiling water. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have not known that bringing metal into a lightening storm would be dangerous? She had endangered the lives of everyone onboard. She felt her throat tighten. "I...I'm sorry." she murmured.

Joe softened. "Alrigh.'...I guess no harm done." he stared at her for a moment. "Well?"

Lucy looked up. What did he want from her now. "Well, what?"

"Ain't ya' gonna thank me?"

"For what?"

Joe scoffed and shook his head. "For what?! For savin' yer' bleedin' neck, that's what."

Lucy didn't know what had gotten into her. If it were anyone else she would have said a simple 'thank you' and that would have been that, but suddenly she felt very angry. "Why should I thank you?" she muttered. "This is your fault, you know."

"My fault?!" he roared.

"If you hadn't have forgotten to bring the buckets down, then this might not have happened." Lucy cried, suddenly feeling ten times more powerful. "I couldn't find that other one. It probably blew away in the storm, or didn't you know that would happen?" she finished sarcastically.

"That doesn't mean you had to go an'..."

"'Ey quit tha' jawin'!" Lucy heard someone shout. "Your drownin' us."

Joe picked up his bucket and thrust it into Lucy's hands. "Here," he muttered. "You keep workin' I'll find somethin' else to do."

"Fine." Lucy snatched the bucket away from him and began to work again. She didn't watch as Joe stomped away, but she couldn't help smiling a little at the sound of his angry footfalls.

As she worked, she heard Gibbs shout something about seeking shelter, but Jack refused. Then she heard something out of Jack that made her heart leap.

"We're catching up!"


	10. Chapter 9 The Fog Begins to Clear

Chapter 9

"The Fog Begins to Clear."

_I'm so sorry it's taken me this long to update, so I made this chapter extra long. I think that this chapter is pretty okay and I hope it meets your standards._ _Enjoy and don't hesitate to review._

The storm raged all night, and gradually died down the next morning. The crew stood at the bow of the ship, surveying the wreckage from the storm through the immense fog. Parts from unluckier ships floated in the water before them.

"Puts a chill in the bones how many honest sailors have been claimed by this passage." Gibbs murmured darkly.

Lucy shuddered and inched closer to her brother. It was the first time it had dawned on her. They had been incredibly lucky. They had looked death in the face several times on this voyage and had come away relatively unscathed. She also knew that things were not about to get any easier. They were getting closer and closer to the Black Pearl. They would have to challenge dangerous pirates in order to save Elizabeth. She had to be more careful. She couldn't be thoughtless like she had been last night, but she felt as though no matter how hard she tried…she wouldn't be able to help. All her life it had been that way. She would try her very hardest at everything she did, but nothing ever turned out right. Why should now be any different?

"Can't see anythin' in this fog." Marty sighed. "There ain't no way we kin' keep goin' like this if we can't see where we're goin'."

"Should we drop anchor somewhere, then?" Lucy asked. "We could wait out the fog for a day."

"We can't." Will replied immediately and almost harshly. "We're so close."

"Besides, where would we drop?" Gibbs shrugged his hefty shoulders as he continued to stare at the wreckage in the water. "There's no land...at least none tha' we can see."

After a few more futile suggestions, the crew wandered back to their work. Gibbs remained at the bow. Lucy began to walk away, but then remembered something. She supposed now was the best time to admit to the object she had hidden in her pocket for nearly a week now.

"Um...Mr. Gibbs?" Lucy asked as she walked back to him.

"Hmm?"

"I...I think I might have something that belongs to you." Lucy hesitantly reached into her pocket and pulled out the red book, its hard cover a bit stained with water droplets.

Gibbs looked away from the wreckage and stared at her with his squinting eyes. His gray scruffy eyebrow arched in suspicion.

Lucy clung more tightly to the book to steady her shaking hands. "I'm sorry....You see, I didn't mean to take it. Back in Tortuga Joe startled me so I…I suppose it doesn't make much sense, but I promise I didn't read anything written in it..." Lucy broke off her rant and held out the book, hoping he wouldn't be too angry with her.

Gibbs only stared at her for what felt like eternities to Lucy. "Lass," he finally spoke. "I don't 'ave the faintest idea what yer' talkin' about."

Lucy sighed and shook her head. "Sorry, I'm rubbish at explaining things. Here, what happened was..."

"No, no," Gibbs interrupted. "I mean that ain't me' book."

Lucy's eyes widened. "It's not?"

"No, I can't read." Gibbs said. "But ye' should ask Joe. That fella' reads alla' time. If yer' found it in our room it's probably his."

Lucy sighed. "Thank you, Mr. Gibbs." she tried to fake a grateful smile, but she was dreading returning the book to Joe; not only because of their interesting quarrel last night which she felt a bit silly for, but for something else as well. Joe had accused her of stealing before, and now she would have to confess to it. She dreaded his know-it-all smirk more than anything.

******************************************************************************

"Jack?" Joe groaned as he once again tried to get Jack's attention. "Listen, I think we need ter'....Jack?!"

Jack kept his focus on the compass, pretending that he heard nothing.

"Look that compass ain't gonna help us now. That's why__"

"Haven't you taken the hint, pesky one?" Jack muttered.

Joe sighed with exasperation. "Captain," he said through clenched teeth. "I have a suggestion."

Jack finally looked up. "Please, Joseph." he groaned. "Make it short."

Joe didn't hesitate. "Someone needs to go ahead of _The Interceptor _in the boat. It's easier to see through the fog when yer' closer to the water. Once they see the Black Pearl, they'll head back to The Interceptor an' tell ya' how far we 'ave to go, an' then we won't be taken by surprise."

Jack stopped steering and stared into the fog that only seemed to grow with more intensity. Joe was encouraged by the fact that Jack was at least mulling over his plan. "Fine." Jack said. "You an' smallish Turner'll go."

Joe shot Jack the closest thing that could be compared to as a confused look. "I was thinkin' tha' the older Turner would want to go. It is his gal we're chasin', isn't it?"

"You're idea, you go." was all that Jack said before turning his attention back to his compass.

Joe puffed out a short sigh and walked away. If it was his idea, then why did he have to bring that Turner girl? Why was she even at sea with them at all? She was living proof that young girls at sea were nothing but trouble.

_If today isn't July twelfth, you'd best put this down right this minute. If today is July twelfth and Mrs. Gale said you could read it, then read on and Happy Birthday Jimmy!_

_I found your present in a little shop in Athens, that's in Greece, halfway around the world! It's so warm there. The food is sweet and spicy, not like the soggy bread we used to eat every night. The people there are really smart too, much smarter than me. Someday, when we have enough money of our very own, you and I are going there together to become regular geniuses and enjoy the sunshine. That's why I want you to practice your writing in this book. By the time I come home I want you to know how to write every single word that you speak, by heart._

_We're sailing to Italy, now. I think we're going to meet up with another ship and then sail back here. It won't be long until you and I can get a boat and sail off on our own to have our very own adventures. Until then, be good and do everything that Mrs. Gale tells you._

_So long for now,_

_Joe._

Lucy immediately slammed the book shut and collapsed down onto her cot. Why had she done it? She committed a crime that she never thought herself capable of committing. She had invaded someone's privacy. Her guilt almost overshadowed the question that pervaded her mind. Who was Jimmy? Who was this fellow whom Joe actually felt an ounce of tenderness for? At least one thing was certain. The book belonged to Joe and Lucy would have to find some way to give it back to him without affirming his belief of her as a thief.

Lucy sighed and closed her eyes, exhausted from the weight of her anxiety. She was only still for a moment before she heard someone leaping down the steps to the cabin.

"There you are." Lucy's eyes popped open to see Anamaria standing at the bottom of the steps, her face in a scowl. "I've been lookin' for you. Don't see why though, you aren't my responsibility." Anamaria sighed and rolled her piercing eyes upward; as though there were someone on deck she'd like give a slap. In all likelihood this was probably Jack. "Up with ya' then. You an Joe are goin' in the dinghy."

Lucy began to ask Anamaria what she and Joe were going in the dinghy for, but Anamaria stomped back up the steps before anything else could be said. With a sigh, Lucy carefully inserted the book back into her pocket. She supposed that now was the perfect time to return the red book.

*****************************************************************************

Lucy and Joe lowered themselves and the dinghy into the water very carefully. As soon as they were settled in the water Lucy smelled the sweet yet foul stench of the sea. She felt the fog surround like a cool blanket of water. She looked up to see Will staring down from the rail at her. He had been quite hesitant to let her go, but was swayed by Gibbs, who assured him that Joe was practically 'a water rat.'

Joe told her that they would be paddling south that day. After a bit of confusion, they managed to turn the dinghy in the right direction. They rowed silently for nearly and hour, seeing nothing but sea on all sides of them. Although they were facing each other, it was not at all difficult not to look one another in the eye. They were both so intent on looking for the Black Pearl and so uneager to talk to one another.

Finally, Joe spoke. "How old are you?"

Lucy had been staring at a trout swimming by and jumped at the sound of his voice. "Four..fourteen."

Joe looked back down at his paddle, but nodded agreeably, as though he actually cared about her age. "Fourteen." he repeated.

"Yes, fourteen and a half really." Lucy was surprised to feel herself smiling. "How old are you?"

Joe popped his covered head up and stared at her for a second before answering.

"Fifteen. Fifteen since about a month ago."

"You don't look fifteen." Lucy responded without thinking, as she took into account his short stature and looked at his young ageless face. Whenever Lucy was especially irritated with Joe she would console herself with thinking Joe's face resembled the pout of a disgruntled four year old child.

Joe's blueish green eyes which usually appeared blank and emotionless suddenly turned a bit hostile. "Well, you don't act fourteen." he fired back.

Lucy blushed. She really didn't mean to start a fight with him, but she didn't blame him for snapping at her. Whenever they did speak to each other it seemed to result in an argument. Perhaps it was time to change that.

"Sorry." she said. "I didn't mean anything by it. You don't look much younger than fifteen." she offered. "And you certainly act fifteen, even older. I wish I knew half the things about sailing that you know."

Joe looked surprised for a moment. Then, his cheeks seemed to give off a hint of pink. "It's pretty much the only thing I know." he muttered. He stared at her for a moment and sighed. "I'm sorry too. Ya' do act your age," he snickered. "Or close to it."

Lucy couldn't help laughing.

Joe smiled. Lucy was astonished to see that he even showed his teeth for a moment.

All was silent for a moment with only the sound of their oars hitting the water. Lucy kept trying to squint through the fog, hoping to see the Black Pearl through it, but she could not. She looked back for _The Interceptor_, but she could not see that either. "Joe?"

"Yep?"

"Why are we doing this?"

Joe diligently kept rowing. "Doin' what?"

"Going ahead of _The Interceptor_, when Jack has a compass."

Joe sighed, set down his oars, and looked at her. "Because the compass doesn't work."

Lucy's eyes widened. Had they been going the wrong direction this whole time? "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well, it don't point north,' sow,' eas,' or wes'." Joe said plainly.

Lucy was perplexed. She know Jack was a bit strange, but he wasn't stupid. Why would he rely on compass that didn't work. "So the compass is broken."

Joe raised his eyebrow slyly. "I never said it was broken. I said it didn't _work_."

Lucy was confused. "What do you mean?"

Joe scoffed. "You really don't know anything, do ya?"

Being called stupid had never irritated Lucy so much. "I believe you've established that several times, Joe." she said through gritted teeth.

Joe laughed. "Alright, I'm sorry." he said for the second time that day. "Ya' see, the compass only points one way, an' it ain't a direction a' all. The compass points to the thing ya' want most, if yer' holdin it in yer' hand that is."

Lucy couldn't believe it. "So, he thinks its magic?"

Joe shook his head and stared at her head on. "Jack doesn't _think_ the compass is magic. The compass _is_ magic, just like the Black Pearl."

Lucy shook her head so hard in disbelief that a few of her golden curls came loose from her bun. "But that's just a story." she whispered.

Joe continued to stare at her. "What part of it is just a story?" he asked her.

Lucy thought back to all of the legends and stories that she and Elizabeth would read about pirates. The most frightening ones were about the crew of the Black Pearl. "I don't remember much about the story." Lucy began. "But they were cursed weren't they? They took something...gold I think.....and it made them...."

"Live forever." Joe finished.

Lucy nodded, the old story about the pirates taking the eight hundred eighty-two pieces of Aztec gold and spending it all, thus becoming the undead all came flooding back to her.

Joe puffed a short breath and shrugged his broad shoulders. "You kin' believe or not, but the fact is that it's true."

Lucy looked him in the eye. "So, am I to understand that my friend has been captured by a band of undead pirates?" she asked in a whisper.

Joe nodded slowly. "I don' mean to scare you, but that's exactly righ'."

Lucy shook her head in disbelief. Those awful pirates who had attacked them nearly a month ago in Port Royal were the most frightening things Lucy had ever encountered, but now, was she supposed to believe that they were basically ghosts? She thought back on the whole ordeal, that horrible night that she had been trying to forget for so long. She remembered the pirate with the axe, how he had seized her by the neck with his dirty hand. Had he been supernaturally strong? He was strong enough to incapacitate her, which really wasn't saying much. Did his touch chill her to the bone? She certainly had been frightened, but she could not recall if his touch had frozen her insides. And what about Elizabeth? What would the undead want with a rich girl? And yet, she recalled that these pirates had no doubts that Elizabeth was the one that they wanted as if she held something within her, something that they could sense. Almost icily Lucy put her questions and doubts to a halt and looked at Joe. Of one thing she was more certain then ever before. Elizabeth had to be found as soon as possible. "What does the compass have to do with any of this." She asked. "You don't think Jack _wants_ to find Elizabeth most of all?"

Joe began to slow his rows and did not meet her eyes. He was cocky with his information before, now, he looked as though he regretted saying anything at all. "I do think that Jack wants to find yer' friend, Elizerbeth' mos' of all, but only because of the place 'e thinks we're goin' ter' find her." he said slowly.

"Honestly Joe," Lucy said feeling herself getting impatient. "Can't you blurt it all out at once? Where does Jack think the pirates are taking Elizabeth?"

Joe shot her a comical look of shock and disdain, which made Lucy forget herself and let out a chuckle. "Alrigh.' Alrigh,' jus' tryin' to impress the gravity of the situation on ya, but see'in as you appear ter' understand…"

"Get on with it, will you?!"

"Fine." Joe said, glancing behind him as though he thought someone would be listening out here in the middle of nowhere. "The Isla de Muerta, that's where Cortez's cursed treasure is. Barbossa, the captain of the Pearl, ever since Jack got mutinied…oh yeah," he added when Lucy opened her mouth in surprise. "Jack used to be captain of the Pearl, but don' interrupt, you want to hear the whole story, don' you? Anyway, Barbossa's tryin' to get all the Aztec gold back into the chest."

"Why take Elizabeth, then?" Lucy interrupted, blushing when Joe gave her a look.

"That I don' know, but yer' gonna have to be brave when I tell ya' this." He swallowed and looked her in the eye. "Those pirates, they need…blood. That's all I know."

Lucy gulped, trying not to cry as she buried her face in her hands. They were going to _kill _Elizabeth. It was all her fault. If she had only stayed with her or run to the fort faster, this never would have happened.

"Now, look here." Lucy watched as Joe reached to touch her on the shoulder. His hand froze in midair, as though he thought better of it. Quickly, Joe drew it back. "Um…nothin's changed, not really. We're still gonna find her. We ain't that far behind 'em, I know we ain't. We've only been trailing the Pearl for half the day...speakin' a' which…" He paused for a moment, surveying the dusk of night drawing around them. "We'd better turn back. We don't want ter' be floatin' out here at night."

"You don't understand." Lucy told him as they turned the canoe around. "It's all my fault Elizabeth was captured." Right then Lucy blurted out the whole painful story about how she had not been smart, steady, or fast enough to save her mistress.

Joe was silent for a moment. Lucy wasn't sure what she had expected Joe to say in response, but finally he said something very odd. "I know what that's like," he told her slowly. A somber very grownup look clouded over his face. "To have somethin' bad to be all yer' fault…even though ya' never meant fer' it ter' happen, it still hurts like ya' handed Elizabeth over to the pirates yer'self, doesn't it?"

Lucy looked at him in shock. That was exactly how she had been feeling. Joe had just connected with something that not even Will understood. She nodded. "Yes." she whispered.

The right side of Joe's lips turned up in his crocked smile. "Don't worry. I promise we'll save her."

"How can you be sure?" Lucy asked doubtfully.

"I jus' am." Joe repeated. "I promise, Miss Turner."

Lucy understood at that moment why Elizabeth hated for her to call her Miss Swann. "Lucy." Lucy insisted. "Call me Lucy."

A small almost invisible smile crept over Joe's face. "Lucy then."

They paddled back to _The Interceptor_ in the dark. Surprised that she was not frightened, Lucy listened as Joe discussed plans for tomorrow. They would go back into the dinghy midmorning and turn back in the evening if they did not sight the Black Pearl before then. Before she knew it she was waving to Will, who was heaving them up with the rope, looking quite relieved to see them safe again. When Joe and Lucy were close enough, Will grabbed Lucy under the arms and hoisted her back on deck.

"How'd it go, Lu'?" Will asked, trying to hide his anxiety.

Lucy opened her mouth to assure Will that though Elizabeth had not been found; the excursion had gone so well that she almost didn't mind going again tomorrow, but then she once again felt that familiar weight in her pocket. She smacked her forehead with the palm of her hand and held up her finger in apology for delaying an answer to Will's question. "Fine. It went fine. I'm sorry you waited up for us. Why don't you go to bed? I'd best help Joe with the dinghy." Lucy cast a glance at Joe, who was tying up the dinghy.

Lucy had never seen Will looking so disappointed. "So, no sign of them?" he asked.

Lucy shook her head, feeling guilty once again. "I'm sorry. Not yet, but we're so close. I know it." Just then, she did what she had not for what felt like a very long time. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. "Goodnight, My Brother. I love you."

Will held her for a moment. "You too, Lu'." He let go and looked at Joe, who seemed to be retying the same knot multiple times. "Something wrong with the rope?" he called.

"No." Joe said at once. He turned slowly to face him. "Thanks, I'm finished." he murmured.

Lucy sided over to Joe, hoping that Will would leave so that she would not have to embarrass herself in front of him. She hated doing what she was about to do, especially after she and Joe had nearly become friends. "Joe," she asked slowly. "Do you remember that night when we first met, when you said I stole something?"

Joe nodded slowly, arching his eyebrow in suspicion. "Yeah,…what'cha gettin' at?"

"Well…you were right." Lucy blurted out. "I did take something. I heard you come in and I panicked, so I stuffed it in my pocket. It's been there ever since, and now I'd like to say I'm sorry and give it back to you."

Joe began to laugh as soon as she finished explaining. "I knew it!" he chuckled a bit before composing herself. "I don't blame you. I gave ya' quite a fright."

Lucy, too, began to giggle. "You certainly did." She remembered the gun Joe had put to her head. "Anyway," she dug the red book out of her pocket and handed it to him. "This is what I took."

Joe held it in front of his face, and opened the book to the first page. In a matter of seconds, Lucy watched Joe's face fall. He let out a shuddering breath and then swallowed. To Lucy's surprise, he carefully shut it and handed the book back to her. "It ain't mine." he said in a stony voice without meeting her eyes.

"But," Lucy stammered. "You wrote it. You wrote it to Jimmy." Lucy blushed. She didn't mean to blurt that out. Now, he knew that she had invaded his privacy.

Joe stared at her in awe and then looked down again. "It ain't mine." he repeated with more solidity this time. "Now, we'd best get ter' sleep." he told her, walking quickly towards the cabin. "We're going to have a long day tomorrow."

Lucy watched him walk away. Something was wrong with his reaction and she doubted that anyone else named Joe who stayed in the inn at Tortuga knew how to write. Lucy didn't believe him. "Wait." Lucy caught up with Joe, and began to whisper as they climbed down to steps so she wouldn't wake the sleepers. "What should I do with your_ the book, I mean?"

"I dunno, Lucy." Joe whispered irritably. "You can toss it in the ocean for all I care. Now, get in yer' bed an' go to sleep." He left her and went to the bunk he shared with Gibbs.

Lucy did get in her bed and go to sleep, but not before carefully tucking the red book under the mattress. She would not throw it in the ocean. Something told her that she had better hold onto it.


	11. Chapter 10 A Sight for Sore Eyes

Chapter 11

"A Sight for Sore Eyes"

_Hello all! Hope everyone's having a good winter! I'm really happy with this chapter, but please let me know what you guys think._

Lucy's suddenly felt dreadfully uncomfortable. She tried to fall back to sleep, but she couldn't reconcile herself to a tickling feeling on her feet and on the front of her legs. It was as though something were crawling on her. She leapt out of bed and let out a gasp. Right after lifting up both of her pant legs some sort of residue fell to the ground. Little black dots were crawling up her legs!

Now, they did not only tickle. They hurt! She felt tiny sharp teeth protruding into her skin. She tried to brush them off, but while she got rid of some, others began crawling on the hand she had touched them with.

"Bugger!" Lucy jumped at the exclamation from the top bunk. "Can ya' not wait to disturb us 'til morning, Turner?" A very sleepy-eyed Anamaria lifted her disheveled head and squinted with annoyance at Lucy.

"Sorry." whispered Lucy as she glanced around, hoping she had not woken anyone else up. "Anamaria, could you please help me?" Lucy stepped closer to the irritated woman. "There are these horrid things crawling all over me and I don't know what they are?"

Anamaria glowered at her. "Honestly are ya' tha' bloody thick_"

"If you don't want to help me that's fine." Lucy fired quickly and almost harshly at her. "But you've always told me that 'us women have to stick together,' and if you were in this position I'd gladly assist you." Lucy stepped back, afraid of what had just come out of her mouth. What gall did she have to talk to someone like that, a pirate no less? Had she suddenly become brave or simply temperamental? Lucy prepared herself for a punch in the face as Anamaria leapt from her bunk onto the floor.

To Lucy's surprise, Anamaria knelt to the floor and examined Lucy's legs and feet without even a hint of protest. "Chiggers." she announced in a matter of seconds. "You p'obably got 'em out on the water today. Only thing you can do is scrub 'em off ya."

Lucy suddenly felt self-conscious again. How long had it been since she had taken a bath, much less, looked in a mirror? She looked down at her legs and feet crawling with black parasites. She scratched her head. Immediately, her fingers made contact with an oily scalp encrusted with hard dirt. With much difficulty she resisted sniffing herself. What had she come to? True, she used to be a plain, gawky, unemployed maid, but at least she had been clean then.

"Anamaria," Lucy began, preying on Anamaria's opinion as a female once again. "How do you…you know..'scrub'…yourself aboard a pirate ship?"

Unexpectedly, Anamaria let out an abrupt and hoarse laugh. "Difficult ain't it? 'Specially with these ignee'rant sods on all sides of us." she said nodding towards sleeping Mr. Cotton, whose tongueless mouth hung open as he drooled on the mattress. Anamaria continued. "Wha' I do is I sneak into Jack's cabin and take that wide barrel by his bed. You know the barrel 'e keeps the rum in? See, a couple o' months ago I cut the thing in half so the bottom could be a lil' tub. After me bath, I took it back to his cabin, set the top back on, an' left." Anamaria chuckled almost girlishly. "He still don' suspect a thing. Ol' Jack's still storin' tha' rum in a busted barrel." Quickly, almost mechanically she composed herself to stoicism once again. "Jus' take it in the kitchen an' use the water from the bottle in the cupboard."

Lucy didn't realize that she had been smiling the whole time Anamaria was talking. She blushed and thanked Anamaria heartily. "Thanks Anamaria. I really appreciate it."

Anamaria shrugged. "Jus' try not to wake Jack. I don' like to think on how he'd react to a naked gal' soakin' in his rum barrel."

Lucy chuckled. "Well, he'd certainly never leave _you_ alone again."

Anamaria smirked. "Be careful," she added. "And here." She dug a little, worn-down, white bar of soap out of her pocket and handed it to her. "Make sure no one finds out about tha' either. You can use it fer' now, til' ya' kin' get yer' own."

Anamaria had greatly reminded Lucy of Elizabeth's sisterly kindness just then. Lucy contemplated hugging Anamaria, but understood that such a gesture would not be appreciated with a single glance at Anamaria's hardened expression. Lucy smiled. "Thanks. I'll give this back to you first thing in the morning."

"See tha' you do." Anamaria said as she climbed back into her bunk. "An' if ya' use it all up, so help me, I'll slit yer' throat." She threatened before closing her eyes.

Lucy gulped, making sure not to break the tiny bar as she concealed it in her own pocket. "'Night then." She whimpered.

"Hummph!…"

*****************************************************************************************************************

Lucy had no trouble stealing into Jack's cabin and thieving half of his rum barrel. However, she nearly fainted upon realizing that Jack slept with his eyes wide open and seeing his tattooed hands darting in the air frequently, a habit that he apparently kept to in his sleep.

As she stood over the water filled 'rum-tub,' she felt immense pleasure. Though she knew the water would not be warm, her bath invited her. She untied her tangled, matted hair. She stripped off her breeches, blouse, and underclothes and wrung out all of the little black chiggers, which took some time. The little things seemed quite resolved to cling to anything that belonged to her. They were intent on dragging her down. Even now they were biting her flesh, digging into her, trying to make her believe that they were apart of her, that she was their home. How she hated them! She hated the way they degraded her, wounded her, and made her feel disgusting; a thing to be laughed at, sneered at. As she wrung the last insect out of her pant leg, she wished that she could kill them, but from her limited knowledge of chiggers, she knew that they were near impossible to exterminate. No. They would continue to wander the ship, seeking out someone else to penetrate.

Finally, after her arms ached and her clothes appeared clean, Lucy folded them neatly on the floor and slowly eased herself into the tub. Slowly she traced the bar of soap across the contours of the body, noticing slight changes in herself as she went. It was the first time she noticed that she was no longer ghostly pale. Her skin was still light, but there was an almost brownish tint to it. She also noticed the muscles on her arms, legs, and stomach. She was still long and thin, but at least now she was physically stronger. Looking down at her naked body, she felt more like a woman, not because she felt at all appealing or beautiful, but because she looked different. Bodies were amazing things. Like inner beings, they were able to change shape.

Lucy gently ran her soapy hands through her curls. Gradually, they untangled and tamed. When she was satisfied, she laid back and sighed. She made a promise that she would take more pride in herself. No more telling herself she was ugly. No more giving up. She was who she was. She had what she had. The only thing she could do was improve. She would simply lie in the water and think for awhile, but not for too long. She had to return the tub before Jack woke up.

****************************************************************************************************************

"You aren't angry with me are you?"

"Mmmm?"

"It's just, you haven't said a word since we've been out here. Did I do something wrong?"

"No." heaved Joe as he drew back his paddle. "Sorry, just thoughtful."

"Ahh…" Lucy nodded. She looked back toward The Interceptor as it grew smaller and smaller as they paddled ahead. It was nearly afternoon, but she was not hungry for the bread she had packed for hers and Joe's lunch. She tried again to make conversation. "The fog's clearing up."

"Yep."

Lucy sighed, disappointed that she hadn't gotten more out of him. "Still, I'm glad we're out on the water again. It's lovely. Plus, I like to feel like we're doing something…well, I know that we _really are _doing something…but still, it makes me less nervous."

Joe snickered softly and then burst into a laugh.

"What?" Lucy asked, both shocked and relieved at the same time.

"It's true." stammered Joe.

"What's true?" laughed Lucy.

"I read somewhere tha' women say abou' twen'y-five thousand words a day, while a man's lucky ter' get six thousand ow' o' 'is mouth." Joe chuckled. "Only I never really believed it 'til jus' now."

Lucy sat up straighter and pretended to look haughty and offended. "Well I never." she huffed. "I presume that means you haven't known many women in your lifetime."

Joe turned serious. "Yeah," he admitted guardedly. "I guess I haven't." he relaxed himself a bit and went back to rowing. "But who needs much of anyone when you've got great lit'rature, eh?"

Lucy shook her head. "Mr. Gibbs told me that you read, but I scarcely believed him." she admitted.

"Why? Because I'm a pirate?" he goaded almost playfully.

Lucy smiled. "Something like that, and you say things like 'ain't' and pronounce words like 'lit-er-ature' as 'lit-rat-your'."

Joe shrugged. "Shakespeare kin only affect so much of yer' environment." He spoke as though he was quoting a psychology textbook, and Lucy wouldn't have been surprised if he was.

"If your environment was really always that crass, how did you learn how to read in the first place? Gibbs can't read."

Lucy regretted her question when she saw Joe shiver uncomfortably. "A woman I used to live with taught me when I was a kid." he said slowly. "I never had a mum or dad, so she took care o' me."

"Both of my parents are gone too." Lucy admitted. "My mother died when I was four or so. My father abandoned us to become a pirate before that. So, Will and I ran away to find him, but Elizabeth's father and the army found us, and we had to live with Will's future employers, the Browns. I never liked them very much. I suppose Mrs. Brown was alright, but she never really cared for us like my mother did. Mr. Brown smelled bad and drank too much." Lucy had been hoping that her story would encourage Joe, but he simply sat there nodding awkwardly. "So, when I grew older I went to work as Elizabeth's maid, and I think you know the rest." Lucy sighed sadly. "Elizabeth is one of the few people who really love Will and me, in different ways of course, but anyway…she's the one who taught me how to read. What was the woman who taught you like, Joe?"

"Um…" Joe stuttered, obviously unprepared for this. "She was pretty old, kind. Her name was Mrs. Gale."

Lucy's eyes widened. Of course she had been suspicious but she was still shocked. "Mrs. Gale was the name in the letter…in _your_ book."

It took a moment for Joe to find his voice. "Drop it Lucy." his voice shook and he began to tremble. "I told you it ain't mine." he turned from her and squinted behind him. "Tha's odd. It's foggy again. All of a sudden…"

"Joe. Who was Jimmy?" Lucy asked trying to be gentle. "Was he your brother? Did he die?"

"I told you! Drop…ugh! Do ya not smell tha'?!"

Lucy sat back and sniffed the air. Yuck! Joe was right. The smell was putrid, worse than any other smell in the world. It smelled like…death! She shivered. How cold it was, down to her very bones! "Joe, I'm freezing!" she gasped. "Joe…"

"Black sails." murmured Joe darkly.

Lucy looked up. Indeed they were closing in on the mostly ghostly ship that Lucy had ever seen. Yet, it was familiar to her as if out of a recent nightmare. Though she could barely see through the fog, she could make out figures running about on deck.

"Land ho!" Someone on board shouted.

"Do you see any land?" Lucy whispered.

"No." whispered Joe. "Wait…yes! You kin' barely see it, but we're here. We're at the Isle de Muerta….Come! We must go back."

"We can't!" Lucy refused to pick up her oar. "If we go back we may be too late for…Elizabeth!!" Lucy half shouted. There on deck stood her beloved friend, bedraggled but very much alive. This journey had not been in vain. She had found Elizabeth. Lucy could not contain herself. She tried to stand up. Perhaps she could get Elizabeth's attention.  
Immediately, Joe pushed her back down. "Ya' got a death wish? If they see us we're dead, you understand?" he whispered fervently.

"I won't leave her." All at once Lucy felt a torrent of tears cascading down her cheeks. She heard herself sob. "Please…don't…make me leave her…again. No!" She tried to reach for the Joe's oar as he used it to turn the dinghy around.

But Joe held her off with his free hand. "Stop." he ordered in a very calm and grown up voice. "Listen to yer'self. How are we gonna' save 'er by ourselves, withow' swords?"

Lucy sat back and swallowed. "Why didn't we bring any?" she moaned.

"Because, we knew we couldn't handle 'em on our own, 'member?" Joe paddled frantically and yet he was able to soothe her. "If we make fast work at this we 'kin make it back to the others in half an hour, maybe less. But ya' gotta' help me out here, alright?"

Lucy knew that she didn't have time to deliberate. She wiped her tears on the back of her hand and gasped. "Alright." Quickly, she picked up her oar and paddled hard.

It seemed less than a second after Lucy had shut her eyes that she heard the familiar morning cry "All hands on deck!" and felt the light of the rising sun draining down into the cabin and forcing her eyelids to open to the dawn.


End file.
